LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 

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THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


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1 


THE 


INNER  LIFE  OF  CHRIST, 

AS   REVEALED    IN    THE    GOSPEL 
OF   MATTHEW. 


v  BY 

JOSEPH    PARKER,  D.D., 

Minister  of  the  City  Temple,  Holborti  Viaduct,  London, 

AUTHOR   OF   "  ECCE   DEUS,"    "  THE    PARACLETE,"    UTHE    PRIESTHOOD    OF   CHRIST,"     ''THESE 
SAYINGS   OF  MINE,"    "SERVANT   OF   ALL,"    ETC. 


VOLUME    III. 

"THINGS  CONCERNING  HIMSELF."' 


NEW  YORK: 

FUNK    &  WAGNALLS,    Publishers, 

io  and  12  Dey  Street. 

1884. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1883, 

By  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS, 

in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


VOL.    III. 


PACK 

LXVIII.     Matthew  xvi.  13-23.     Christ's  Personality  Defined.      2 
The  Vital   Question — Unsatisfactory  Answers — Transfiguring 
Thoughts — Inspiration  and  the  Keys — Forecasting  Difficulties — 
Losing  the  Keys — Subtle  Temptations. 

LXIX.     Matthew  xvi.  24-28.     The  Law  of  Christ-Following.  .    10 
Christ's  Estimate  of  the  Soul — Divine  Completeness — The  Se- 
cret of   Outward    Peace: — The  Motive   of   Life — Right  View  o 
Death — Applying  the  Truth — Alternative  Crucifixions. 

LXX.     Matthew  xvii.  1-13.    The  Transfiguration  and  Reve- 
lation      20 

Trinal  Mannood — Elevation  Physical  and  Spiritual — Days  of 
Revelation — Our  Celestial  Ancestry — Retufn  from  the  Moun- 
tain— Secret  Experiences — Challenged  by  Great  Problems. 

LXXI.    Matthew  xvii.  14-27.    Transfiguration  Completed  by 

Beneficence 30 

Descending  from  the  Mount — Afflictions  in  every  Multitude — 
Malediction  not  Sufficient — The  Spirit  of  Unbelief — Enfeebled 
Faith — Earnest  Inquiries — Bad  Listening — Principle  of  Conduct. 

LXXII.     Matthew  xviii.  1-14.     Greatness  in  the  Kingdom...     40 
True  Greatness — The  Illustrative  Child — True  Childhkeness — 
The  Beginning  of  Belief — The  Child-heart. 

LXXIII.     Matthew  xviii.  15-35.     Brotherhood  and  Forgive- 
ness      51 

Christ's  Portraiture  of  Sin — True  Theory  of  Human  Nature — 
Knowledge  of  Human  Nature — Social  Difficulties — Christ's  Uni- 
versal Presence — Christ  compared  with  Others — Forgiveness  from 
the  Heart. 


J 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

LXXIV.    Matthew  xix.     Fundamental  Answers 63 

Christ  on  Divorce — The  Law  of  Moses — Original  Meanings — 
Bring  the  Children  to  Christ — The  Value  of  Life — Law  and  Char- 
acter— Christ's  View  of  Children — Fulness  of  Christ's  Promises. 

LXXV.     Matthew  xx.  1-16.    The  Larger  Justice 75 

The  Reward  for  All — No  Arithmetical  Reckoning — A  Wider 
Revelation — Disproportions — Administration  of  Mercy — Work 
its  own  Reward. 

LXXVI.     Matthew  xx.   17-34.     The  Plan  of  Life 84 

Life  a  Divine  Plan — Christ's  Prevision — Human  Unreasonable- 
ness— Christ's  Impersonal  Allusion — Crying  to  Christ — The  Con- 
troversy about  Prayer. 

LXXVII.     Matthew  xxi.  1-16.    The  Entry  into  the  City...     93 

Christ's  detailed  Knowledge — Fulfilling  Scripture — Sacrifice 
better  than  Subscription — Weeping  over  the  City — Excitement 
caused  by  Christ — Praising  God  in  Song — Misreading  the  Law. 

LXXVIII.     Matthew  xxi.  17-22.     The  Condemnation  of  Use- 

lessness 102 

The  Home  at  Bethany — The  Effect  of  Christ's  Intensity — The 
Law  of  Judgment — Withering  Power — Believing  Prayer. 

LXXIX.     Matthew  xxi.  23-46.    The  Application  of  Parables.  113 
Always  Working — The  Enemy's  Question — Change  in  Christ's 
Tone — God's  Rational  Justice — The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Author- 
ity— Rough  and  Real  Men — The  Murderous  Husbandmen. 

LXXX.     Matthew  xxii.  1-14.     God's  Welcomes  and  Man's  Re- 
fusals  T25 

Refusing  the  King — The  Consistency  of  the  Parables — Gospel 
Hospitality — Human  Frivolity — The  Wedding  Garment — The 
Many  and  the  Few. 

LXXXI.     Matthew    xxii.     15-46.    Tempting    Questions    and 

Divine  Answers 137 

Prepared  Attacks — Going  to  the  Bible — The  Answers  of 
Christ — Old  Truths  in  a  New  Light — "What  think  ye  of  the 
Christ  ?" 

LXXXII.     Matthew  xxiii.    A  Fourfold  Aspect  of  Christ 148 

Not  a  mere  Destructionist — Popular  Sophisms — Christ's  Re- 
lation to  Truth — Completeness  in  Professing — Christ's  Insight 
into  Truth — The  Eloquent  Maledictions — A  God-Inspired  Min- 
istry. 


CONTENTS.  v 

PAGE 

LXXXIII.    Matthew  xxiv.  1-41.    The   Exciting   Element   in 

Christ's  Ministry 161 

Natural  Comparisons — The  Spirit  of  Judgment — Called  to 
watch — Seeming  Contradictions — No  Unforeseen  Events — Hope 
amidst  Trouble. 

LXXXIV.     Matthew  xxiv.  42-51.     The  Two  Futures 173 

Christ  will  come — Christ's  Relation  to  the  Future — The  Poetry 
of  Fact — The  Highest  Logic — Living  in  Heaven — The  Varied 
Advent — Christ's  Religion  Practical. 

LXXXV.    Matthew  xxv.     The  Parable  of  Judgment 184 

Only  Two  Classes — Faithful  Stewardship — Benevolent  Exer- 
tions Fruitful — Protest  against  Sloth — Variety  of  Appeal — The 
Road  to  Heaven — Unconscious  Service — God's  Forgiveness. 

LXXXVI.     Matthew    xxvi.     1-5.     Completeness     of     Divine 

Teaching 195 

Finished  Work — Christ's  Final  Words — Spiritual  Criticism — 
Human  Exercises — The  Uplifted  Feast — Mercy  the  highest  Jus- 
tice. 

LXXXVII.     Matthew  xxvi.  6-13.     No  Waste  in  Love 204 

Rapid  Alternations — Christ  as  Guest  and  Host — Lordship  in 
Thought — True  Conception  of  Poverty — No  Life  without  Senti- 
ment— The  Multitudinous  Poor — Untruthful  Epitaphs. 

LXXXVIII.     Matthew  xxvi.  14-30.     Sanctified  Symbols 214 

True  Meanings  of  Old  Terms — The  Passover  Celebrated — 
Christ's  continued  Identity — Jesus  the  Master — Continued  Com- 
passion—The Character  of  Judas — Sanctification  of  Incidents — 
The  Lord's  Supper — To  Gethsemane. 

LXXXIX.     Matthew  xxvi.  31-46.     The  Culminating  Sorrow..  226 
Written    Answers — Threefold    Sins — Christ    our     Peace — No 
Companionship — Prayer  in  Sorrow — Our  Father  and  My  Father — 
God's  Will  supreme — The  Universe  is  One. 

XC.     Matthew  xxvi.  47-75.     The  Arrest  of  Christ 237 

The  Principle  of  Submission — The  Highest  Force — The  Script- 
ures fulfilled — The  Possible  and  the  Impossible — Christ  silent 
and  speaking — Peter's  Denial — The  Weakness  of  Violence. 

XCI.     Matthew  xxvii.  1-1 9.     Christ  before  Pilate 249 

The  Chance  to  sin — Christ  and  Conscience— The  Revelation  of 
Judas  Iscariot — Christ's  Development  of  Men — The  Word  for 
Wickedness — Pilate's  Wife's  Dream — The  Mysterious  Christ. 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

XCII.    Matthew  xxvii.  20-54.    The  Crucifixion 260 

The  True  Standard  of  Character — Barabbas  or  Christ — Uncon- 
scious  Meanings — Ingenious    Cruelty — Temporary   Victory   of 
Hell — The  World's  Sacrifice. 

XCIII.     Matthew  xxvii.  55-66.    The  Sayings  on  the  Cross...  272 
On  the  Cross — Moral  Sublimity — The  Humanity  of  Christ — 
Forsaken  of  God — Unexpected  Help — The  Enemy  defeated. 

XCIV.     Matthew  xxviii.  1-10.     Re-union 281 

The  continual  Dawn — The  Women  at  the  Sepulchre — Mem- 
ory cultivated — No  wasted  History — The  Young  Man's  Work — 
Energy  and  Power  wanted — The  Parting  Command. 

XCV.     Matthew  xxviii.  1 1-20.    The  Final  Commission 291 

The  Two  Programmes — The  Truth  uncompromising — The 
Folly  of  Christ's  Enemies — The  Beneficence  of  Christianity — 
Truth  and  Falsehood — Inspired  Service — Christian  Eloquence  in 
Beneficence. 

XCVI.     Matthew  i.-xxviii.     Review  of  the   Whole 302 

The  Name  of  Jesus — No  literal  Consistency — Christ's  Royal 
Kingdom— The  Royal  Element  Lost— A  Grand  Man— The  End — 
Hallelujah  ! 

Matthew  iv.  8-9.    Two  Mountain  Scenes 309 

Christ's  Speech — The  Moralist's  Explanations — High  Prices 
for  High  Blessings — Worship  above  Empire — The  Ultimate 
Conquest  of  Good — Correct  Principles  of  Life  and  Living. 

John  viii.  42.    Jesus  Christ's  Claim  for  Himself 316 

The  Inner  Life  of  Jesus —  Possible  Deception — Hearing  Christ — 
The  Place  of  the  Miracles — One  with  the  Father — Christ's  Domi- 
nant Feeling  —The  Real  and  the  Artificial — An  almost  Rev- 
elation— Christ's  Claim  from  Men — The  Teaching  reveals  the 
Teacher — The  Incarnation  of  Doctrine — The  Living  Christ. 

John  vi.  35.  Bread  and  Water 332 

The  Continuance  of  Necessaries — Social  Frauds — Things  Es- 
sential—What Rational  Criticism  leaves — Miscalled  Culture. 

1  Peter  i.  19.    The  Precious  Blood  of  Christ 341 

Life  Love,  and  Blood — Inner  Meanings— A  Realizing  Faith- 
Conscious  of  Sin — Practical  Effects— The  Ever-flowing  Blood. 


CONTENTS.  vii 

\ 

PAGE 

Judas  Iscariot.    A  Study  of  Character 349 

A  Correct  Understanding — The  Sovereignty  of  Choice — The 
Law  of  Judgment — Healthy  Pain  of  Contrition — The  Judge  will 
do  right — The  Acceptance  of  Intention — After  Explanations — 
Spiritual  Penetration — The  Suicide  of  Judas — To  his  own 
Place — Practical  Lessons. 

Epilogue.     Larger  Definitions 367 


"THINGS  CONCERNING  HIMSELF." 


LXVIII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  light,  and  in  thee  is  no  darkness  at  all.  May 
we  walk  in  the  light  as  thy  children,  as  children  of  the  day,  called  to  thy 
glory  and  called  to  thy  service,  and  capable  of  rendering  thee  continual 
praise.  May  we  know  the  high  meaning  of  our  being,  may  none  of  its 
lower  aspects  tempt  us  downward,  may  every  impulse  of  the  soul  be 
toward  thyself,  and  our  daily  yearning  be  for  the  opening  of  the  temple 
gate.  We  are  at  rest  in  the  sanctuary,  we  are  quiet  in  God's  house  ;  this 
is  God's  acre  for  the  living,  not  for  the  dead — may  we  be  here  planted  as 
living  trees  and  as  blooming  flowers,  made  glad  by  every  vernal  glance 
and  breeze  of  Heaven,  and  in  the  time  to  come  do  thou  satisfy  thyself 
with  our  fruits,  and  transplant  us  into  the  upper  garden.  Here  may  we 
see  the  inner  beauty  ;  in  this  place  may  we  hear  the  inner  music  ;  whilst 
we  tarry  in  our  Father's  house,  may  our  Father's  blessing  fill  to  overflow 
our  desirous  hearts. 

We  have  come  with  our  weekly  song  ;  it  is  of  mercy  and  not  of  judg- 
ment, for  wherein  there  has  been  judgment  it  has  been  swallowed  up  of 
love — therefore  shall  our  song  be  of  love  and  mercy,  pity  and  care, 
heavenly  patience  and  almighty  protection,  and  high  above  all  other 
notes  shall  be  heard  our  acclaim  because  of  thy  tender  mercy.  We  have 
walked  in  and  out  safely  because  thine  hand  has  been  laid  upon  us.  No 
lion  has  been  in  our  way,  nor  any  ravenous  beast  gone  up  thereon,  be- 
cause thou  hast  redeemed  us  from  all  fear.  We  have  seen  the  cross,  and 
that  has  made  us  glad  ;  we  have  beheld  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world,  and  in  his  sight  all  other  sights  have  perished. 
After  this  we  can  look  at  nothing  that  is  little  :  we  are  transfigured  by  its 
power,  we  are  emancipated  by  its  grace. 

We  have  come  with  our  weekly  confession,  but  thou  dost  meet  us  with 
eternal  forgiveness,  because  we  come  to  the  cross  and  speak  the  all-pre- 
vailing Name.  Do  thou  come  to  us  according  to  the  necessity  of  each 
heart,  and  rule  over  us  with  the  sweet  sovereignty  of  love  ;  draw  us  by 
the  tender  compulsion  of  grace,  give  our  souls  a  heavenly  setting,  and  by 


MATTHEW  XVI.  13-23. 


mighty  yet  tender  stress  may  they  be  drawn  upwards  in  every  aspiration 
and  every  thought. 

Thou  hast  surrounded  us  with  temptation,  thou  has  poured  down  thy 
hoods  upon  the  roof  of  our  life,  and  thou  hast  caused  many  things  harm- 
ful to  us  to  test  the  strength  and  security  of  our  foundation.  Thou  hast 
not  spared  the  whirlwind,  a  great  raging  storm  has  sought  out  every  weak 
place  in  our  life-house — yet  hast  thou  preserved  us,  thou  hast  given  unto 
us  deliverance,  and  in  our  mouth  this  day  is  a  noble  psalm  of  noble 
praise.  It  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  consumed,  it  is  be- 
cause his  compassions  fail  not  that  we  are  now  in  his  house,  and  that  our 
hearts  are  now  in  Heaven.  This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvel- 
lous in  our  eyes. 

We  ask  thee  to  comfort  us  when  our  distress  is  keenest,  put  into  our 
hands  the  keys  of  gates  for  which  there  is  no  other  opening.  We  ask 
thee  to  accompany  us  up  the  hill,  that  in  thy  society  we  may  forget  its 
weariness.  We  put  our  whole  life  into  thine  hand  ;  we  look  back  upon 
it  and  we  have  filled  it  with  shame,  but  thou  hast  filled  it  with  grace  :  we 
look  forward  to  its  years  yet  unborn,  and  we  meet  every  one  of  them  in 
the  strength  and  love  of  Christ.  We  are  well  when  Christ  is  with  us,  the 
soul  is  glad  in  the  Saviour's  keeping — there  is  no  night  in  the  soul  in 
which  he  shines  in  all  the  tenderness  of  his  veiled  glory,  nor  is  there  any 
fear  in  the  heart  that  is  pervaded  and  penetrated  by  his  holy  love.  This 
^  is  our  desire  that  so  it  may  be — we  thus  speak  to  thee  in  words  which  do 
1  not  express  all  our  meaning,  but  thou  hearest  the  sighing  of  the  heart  and 
\  thou  knowest  the  desire  for  which  there  is  no  speech.  Receive  our  utter- 
ances of  praise  for  mercies  given,  for  protection  vouchsafed,  for  travelling 
mercies,  for  home  comforts,  for  family  delights,  for  commercial  success, 
for  trials  well  borne,  and  for  afflictions  sanctified. 

Put  around  us  all  thy  strength,  and  may  we  feel  its  gentle  pressure, 
and  rejoice  that  our  security  is  not  human  but  divine.     Amen. 

Matthew  xvi.  13-23. 

13.  When  Jesus  came  into  the  coasts  of  <~aesarea  Philippi  (the  ancient 
Leshem),  he  asked  his  disciples,  saying,  Whom  do  men  say  that  I  the 
Son  of  man  am  ? 

14.  And  they  said,  Some  say  that  thou  art  John  the  Baptist  ;  some, 
Elias  ;  and  others,  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets. 

15.  He  saith  unto  them,  But  (the  decisive  moment  !)  whom  say  ye  that 
I  am  ? 

16.  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God. 

17.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon 
(obedient  hearer)  Bar-jona  (son  of  oppression)  :  for  flesh  and  blood  h^th 
not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

18.  And  I  say  unto  thee,  That  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will 


THE   VITAL    QUESTION. 


build  my  church  ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  (Hades,  or  kingdom  of  death) 
shall  not  prevail  against  it. 

19.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  :  and  what- 
soever thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven. 

20.  Then  charged  he  his  disciples  that  they  should  tell  no  man  that  he 
was  Jesus  the  Christ. 

21.  From  that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto  his  disciples,  how 
that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the  elders  and 
chief  priests  and  scribes  (a  general  conspiracy),  and  be  killed,  and  be 
raised  again  the  third  day. 

22.  Then  Peter  took  him  (seized  him  from  behind)  and  began  to  rebuke 
him,  saying,  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord  :  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee. 

23.  But  he  turned,  and  said  unto  Peter,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan  ; 
thou  art  an  offence  (a  trap)  unto  me  ;  for  thou  savourest  not  the  things 
that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men. 

CHRIST'S  PERSONALITY  DEFINED. 

CHRISTIAN  history  takes  a  new  departure  from  this  point. 
We  now  come  more  closely  than  ever  upon  the  spirit  and 
purpose  of  Christ's  life  and  work.  We  have  passed  through  the 
porch,  and  now  we  are  about  to  enter  the  inner  sanctuary. 

Jesus  Christ  here  puts  a  direct  question  to  his  disciples.  The 
time  had  come  for  putting  it,  and  it  was  his  place  to  propose  the 
vital  inquiry.  He  seems  to  say  to  his  disciples,  "  You  have  seen 
much  work,  now  tell  me  what  is  thought  of  the  worker.  The 
doctrine  and  the  miracle  ought  to  have  had  some  effect  upon 
the  minds  of  the  people  ;  what  is  that  effect  ?  I  have  left  the 
public  very  much  to  form  their  own  opinion — to  what  conclusion 
concerning  me  have  they  come  ?  I  have  treated  you  and  the 
community  in  general  as  I  treated  John  the  Baptist  when  he  sent 
two  of  his  disciples  to  ask  me  if  I  was  the  Christ,  or  whether  they 
were  to  look  for  another.  You  remember  my  reply  :  I  said  to 
them,  '  Go  and  show  John  again  those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and 
see  ;'  and  then  I  pointed  out  to  them  the  miracles  which  I  had  done, 
and  the  supreme,  sublime  miracle  that  the  poor  have  the  Gospel 
preached  unto  them  ;  and  I  left  the  imprisoned  herald  to  form  his 
own  opinion  regarding  my  authority  and  my  qualifications.  It  is 
in  this  way  that  I  have  treated  you  ;  I  have  delivered  to  you  no 
lectures  concerning  my  deity,  divinity,  personality  ;  I  have  gone  in 
and  out  amongst  you,  speaking  the  word  and  doing  the  mighty 


MATTHEW  XVI.  13-23. 


deed,  and  now  the  time  has  come  when  I  may  fitly  ask  you  what 
is  the  result  of  it  all —  Who  am  I/>" 

The  answer  of  the  disciples,  when  the  question  related  to  the 
public,  was  prompt,  and  not  wholly  satisfactory.  The  public  had 
come  to  respectful  conclusions  regarding  Jesus  Christ.  "  Some 
say  thou  art  John  the  Baptist,  some  Elias,  and  others  Jeremias,  or 
one  of  the  prophets. ' '  There  is  no  mention  of  Beelzebub  in  that 
report  of  the  public  impression.  It  was  a  respectful  reply, 
because  the  public  had  formed  a  respectful  opinion.  It  was  also 
historical  :  John  the  Baptist,  Elias,  Jeremias — this  man  is  con- 
nected with  the  historical  and  heroical  past,  he  is  a  grand  man  : 
this  is  no  common  claim.  Behind  this  fine  porcelain  there  burns 
a  marvellous  fire  ;  if  we  have  to  name  him  we  will  accord  him  an 
appellation  that  has  about  it  the  saintliness  of  devotion  or  the  no- 
bility of  heroism.  The  opinion  was  conflicting  yet  unanimous. 
The  people  were  not  certain  whether  it  was  the  Baptist  or  Elias  or 
Jeremias  or  one  of  the  prophets,  but  it  was  certainly  some  great  man. 

Jesus  Christ  having  heard  how  he  was  regarded  by  the  general 
public,  brought  the  question  nearer  home.  Pie  had  a  subtle 
method  of  advancing  upon  the  heart.  Really  his  concern  was  not 
so  much  about  the  public  impression  as  about  the  effect  which 
had  been  produced  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  who  had 
been  nearest  to  him  all  the  time.  Said  he,  "But  whom  do  ye 
say  that  I  am  ?"  The  original  is  emphatic  :  "  But  ye — whom  say 
ye  that  I  am  ?"  The  Church  should  always  have  a  more  distinct 
opinion  than  the  world.  If  there  are  two  voices  about  Christ,  the 
inner  voice  should  be  louder,  clearer,  nobler  than  the  outer  voice. 
There  should  be  no  difficulty  whatever  in  distinguishing  between 
the  man  who  has  been  a  long  time  intimate  with  Christ,  and  any 
man  who  is  simply  looking  upon  his  history  from  an  outside 
standpoint.  Unction  should  be  in  the  voice  of  the  one,  manifold 
music  should  be  involved  in  the  one  utterance  and  should  pro- 
nounce itself  in  many  a  happy  and  suggestive  tone.  Judgment 
begins  at  the  house  of  God,  not  the  judgment  of  denunciation 
alone,  but  the  judgment  of  true-hearted  criticism.  If  we  are  un- 
certain about  Christ,  what  wonder  that  we  make  an  uncertain  im- 
pression upon  the  public  mind  ?  The  fire  at  the  centre  of  the 
earth  is  hotter  than  any  other  fire.  So  in  the  church  of  Christ 
there  should  be  an  all-solving,  all-fusing  ardour  of  conviction. 


TRANSFIGURING    THOUGHTS. 


That  conviction  was  sublimely  represented  in  the  answer  given 
by  Simon  Peter.  Instantly,  with  the  suddenness  of  lightning,  and 
yet  with  the  graciousness  of  light,  he  said,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God. ' '  He  was  never  so  great  a  man  before, 
nor  has  he  ever  been  a  greater  man  since  he  returned  that  infinite 
reply.  Simon  Peter  was  transfigured  by  his  own  answer  ;  he  was 
no  longer  a  meanly-clad  fisherman — the  fire  burned  through  his 
clothes  :  he  was  the  tabernacle  of  the  indwelling  God.  Never 
man  spake  like  this  man  at  that  moment  of  his  utterance.  We 
know  what  it  is  to  have  a  thought  in  us  which  transfigures  the  face 
and  makes  the  countenance  shine  with  unearthly  lustre.  The 
great  speaker  is  always  surprised  by  his  own  utterances,  and  sud- 
denly there  falls  upon  him  an  all-transfiguring  fire  from  Heaven 
— the  very  flesh  is  a  new  flesh,  and  every  pore  of  it  an  outlet  for 
the  inner  light.  Could  we  have  seen  Peter  then,  we  should  have 
seen  him  at  his  best — he  has  never  been  the  same  since.  Some 
moments  in  life  can  never  be  repeated.  There  are  some  firsts 
which  have  no  seconds,  there  are  voices  which  seem  to  have  no 
echoes — once  for  all  their  ineffable  music  rolls  itself  over  the  wel- 
coming spaces,  and  it  can  never  be  repeated. 

Yet  in  that  very  hour  Simon  Peter  was  not  only  transfigured,  he 
was  humbled.  Beyond  a  certain  line  we  cannot  be  allowed  to  go. 
Jesus  Christ  said  to  him,  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon,  son  of  Jona," 
— why  ?  Because  of  wit,  genius,  cleverness,  superiority  of  mental 
energy  ?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  But  blessed  art  thou  because  this 
is  not  an  answer  of  thine  own  suggestion,  nor  art  thou  repeating 
what  any  book  has  taught  thee,  nor  art  thou  saying  in  thine  own 
words  what  flesh  and  blood  hath  thought  or  conceived.  This  is 
nothing  but  the  voice  of  the  divine  in  the  human  :  this  is  a  revela- 
tion of  God,  this  is  an  announcement  from  the  skies — thou  hast 
this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  the  excellency  of  the  power  is  of 
God  and  not  of  thee.  So  lest  the  little  trumpet  should  be  proud 
of  its  own  blast,  Christ  took  it  and  held  it  up  and  said,  "  It  was 
God's  breath  that  startled  thee  into  the  energy  of  that  grand 
music. ' '  Thus  gently  are  we  chided,  rebuked  in  the  midst  of 
blessing,  kept  right  in  the  very  hour  of  our  inspiration,  and 
brought  down  from  the  mountain  to  be  told  that  we  should  never 
have  ascended  so  high  but  for  the  directing  eye  and  the  protecting 
hand  of  God. 


MATTHEW  XVI.  13-23. 


Not  only  was  Simon  Peter  transfigured  by  the  indwelling  pres- 
ence, and  humbled  by  the  divinely  granted  and  not  humanly  con- 
ceived revelation,  but  he  was  exalted  as  no  man  before  him  was 
ever  lifted  up. '  Humanly  speaking,  he  surprised  Christ  into  a  new 
revelation.  Jesus  instantly  handed  Peter  the  keys.  There  is  no 
difficulty  in  understanding  the  handing  the  keys  to  such  a  man  in 
such  a  moment.  Inspiration  always  carries  the  keys.  No  need 
of  angry  controversy  or  grammatical  wordiness  or  critical  inquiry 
into  the  exact  meaning  of  the  term,  "  the  keys."  This  kind  can 
only  be  understood  by  such  minds  as  have  almost  realized  the  ful- 
ness and  the  elevation  of  inspiration  itself.  When  you  are  inspired 
you  have  the  keys.  In  your  sublimest  moods,  when  earth  fades 
into  a  fleck  hardly  to  be  seen,  and  heaven  crowds  itself  in  noble 
fellowship  upon  your  soul,  the  whole  man  is  lifted  up  in  an  ecstasy 
divine.  In  that  hour  the  church  holds  the  keys.  You  do  not 
hold  the  keys  because  of  hereditary  descent,  or  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tionship, or  mechanical  contrivance,  or  superior  patronage — you 
hold  the  keys  only  so  long  as  you  realize  the  inspiration.  And 
no  man  can  take  those  keys  from  you  ;  everywhere  the  inspired 
man  keeps  the  keys — in  merchandise,  in  statesmanship,  in  phi- 
losophy, in  adventure,  in  religious  thinking,  in  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, you  cannot  keep  down  the  inspired  man.  It  is  as  if  Christ 
had  said  :  "  Thou  art  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;  this  is  oneness 
with  God,  this  is  pre-resurrection  and  pre-glorification — this  is  the 
very  wisdom  of  heaven,  and  therefore  I  say  unto  thee,  the  keys  are 
thine. ' ' 

How  Christ  ennobled  the  occasion,  and  how  Peter  evoked  the 
new  revelation  of  Christ  himself !  Christ  never  spake  in  this  tone 
before.  We  sometimes  surprise  ourselves  into  new  conditions,  so 
that  we  become  in  a  degree  new  selves  and  are  a  surprise  to  our 
own  consciousness.  Jesus  Christ  never  made  any  occasion 
little.  He  always  saw  the  best  of  every  man,  and  never  did 
he  withhold  from  any  human  soul  the  meed  of  commendation 
which  seemed  to  be  due.  He  was  all  grace.  Said  he,  "  Ye 
are  the  light  of  the  world,  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  ye  are 
a  city  set  on  a  hill.  Blessed  art  thou,  for  flesh  and  blood  hath 
not  revealed  this  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  Heaven. " 
If  we  have  fallen  below  the  occasion,  the  fault  is  in  us  and  not  in 


FORECASTING   DIFFICUL  TIES. 


the  Master.  He  now  waits  to  see  the  proofs  of  our  inspiration, 
and  then  he  will  not  withhold  the  keys.  We  are  not  now  inspir- 
ed. We  are  clever,  we  are  learned,  we  are  respectable,  we  are 
orthodox,  we  are  correct,  we  are  negatively  blameless  ;  but  Inspi- 
ration, Enthusiasm,  Ecstasy — these  angels  we  have  succeeded  in 
strangling 

From  this  point  a  new  and  closer  fellowship  is  set  up  between 
Jesus  Christ  and  His  disciples.  They  were  now  bound  together 
by  a  new  secret ;  one  glimpse  of  the  true  light  had  been  vouch- 
safed to  the  followers — the  spiritual  Christ  had  been  revealed,  and 
their  nature  was  sanctified  by  a  new  inspiration  ;  a  great  expecta- 
tion was  created  in  them,  and  that  great  expectation  was  con- 
founded by  temporary  shame.  Mark  the  compression  of  the 
twenty-first  verse  :  "  From  that  time  began  Jesus  to  show  unto 
his  disciples  how  that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem  and  suffer  many 
things  of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed, 
and  be  raised  again  the  third  day."  The  whole  tragedy  is  crush- 
ed into  that  one  inch  of  space.  There  is  nothing  more  to  be  said. 
The  cross  is  there,  the  bloody  sweat,  the  mortal  agony,  the  last 
gasp,  the  resurrection  glory.  He  must  go — not  that  he  would  go, 
but  something  more — he  must  go.  The  pressure  of  eternity  was 
upon  him,  destiny  beckoned  him,  supreme  purposes  gather  them- 
selves up  into  one  grand  appeal  and  claimed  him. 

He  must  suffer.  We  have  regarded  suffering  as  an  accident, 
we  have  debased  it  into  an  affliction  ;  the  heroic  aspects  of  suffer- 
ing and  sacrificial  outcomes  of  endurance  and  discipline  we  have 
forgotten  or  allowed  to  fall  into  disesteem.  Jesus  Christ  saw  that 
to  get  to  any  crown  worth  wearing,  he  must  go  through  suffering, 
he  must  be  killed.  He  talked  to  himself  in  plain  language  : 
every  man  who  is  going  to  undertake  any  solemn  business  in  life 
ought  to  set  it  down  before  himself  in  the  tongue  in  which  he  was 
born,  in  the  plainest  terms  which  that  tongue  can  supply.  Do- 
not  shut  your  eyes  and  then  run  into  anything  that  may  happen 
to  turn  up  ;  be  master  of  the  situation  by  forecasting  it.  Why 
should  we  be  living  a  life  of  continual  surprise  as  to  trial  and 
danger  and  affliction  and  pressure  of  various  kinds  ?  Why  not 
put  it  all  down  in  cold  ink,  in  plain  words,  and  look  at  it 
as  a   fact,   then  live  it,   syllable   by   syllable,    till  the   last  tone 


8  MATTHEW  XVI.  13-23. 

has  died  upon  the  air  which  has  listened  to  the  whole  frightful 
tragedy  ? 

Herein  have  we  been  blessed  by  the  Almighty  with  sufficient 
knowledge  of  the  future.  We  can  tell  that  every  one  of  us  whose 
life  is  set  in  the  right  direction  must  go  to  Jerusalem,  must  suffer, 
and  must  be  killed.  Better  for  us  to  say  all  that  to  ourselves 
than  be  shutting  our  ears  and  closing  our  eyes  and  leaving  the 
world  to  announce  it  in  harsh  and  destructive  tones.  Commune 
with  the  tragedies  that  are  about  to  befall  you,  charm  from  them 
their  solemn  secret ;  by  long,  faithful,  honest  communion  with 
the  suffering  which  must  befall  life,  you  may  be  enabled  to  say  in 
the  long  run,  when  the  great  encounter  transpires,  "  O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting  ?" 

But  Jesus  not  only  spoke  of  his  going  to  Jerusalem,  of  his 
suffering  and  his  killing,  but  of  his  resurrection.  We  break  off  the 
story  too  soon,  we  have  a  long  tale  of  complaint  and  reproach  and 
pining  and  sadness,  and  too  frequently  is  the  sob  too  thick  and 
strong  in  our  throat  to  allow  us  to  utter  the  word  which  would 
dissolve  the  cloud  and  make  us  men  again.  We  talk  too  much 
of  our  discipline  and  suffering  and  slaughter,  and  say  too  little 
about  the  promised  and  inevitable  resurrection.  He  who  speaks 
the  word  "  death"  in  the  same  sentence  with  the  word  "  resur- 
rection" will  forget  the  overthrow  in  the  exaltation. 

Now  we  return  to  inquire  how  things  stand  with  Peter,  and  we 
read  this  statement,  "  Then  Peter  took  him  and  began  to  rebuke 
him,  saying,  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord  :  this  shall  not  be  unto 
thee.  Bat  Christ  turned  and  said,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  for 
thou  art  an  offence  unto  me,"  and  Peter  lost  the  keys — his  bind- 
ing and  loosing  power  was  taken  from  him  in  that  instant !  He 
who  was  the  blessed  one  a  short  hour  since  was  ordered  behind 
like  a  dog.  The  church  lives  on  its  own  good  behaviour  ;  you 
cannot  live  upon  yesterday's  inspiration  to-day.  Every  morning 
brings  its  own  dew  ;  every  morning  must  bring  its  own  inspira- 
tion. To  tell  me  that  as  a  church  you  were  inspired  seven  years 
ago,  and  therefore  you  are  inspired  to-day,  is  to  speak  irrationally 
if  not  wickedly.  There  is  no  inspiration  seven  years  old  or  seven 
days  old.  God  will  depose  the  mightiest  prince  amongst  us  when 
that  prince  loses  his  inspiration.     You  cannot  live  upon  the  bread 


SUBTLE   TEMPTATIONS. 


you  ate  twelve  months  ago — your  prayer  is,  M  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread."  As  with  the  body,  so  with  the  soul.  The  grace 
that  ennobled  your  youth  must  be  renewed  day  by  day,  or  it  will 
never  mellow  your  old  age. 

So  Peter  fell.  'Christ  names  us  just  as  swiftly  as  we  do  our 
deed.  "  Blessed  art  thou,"  and  Peter  seemed  to  stand  in  the 
sun.  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me, 
for  thou  savourest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be 
of  men."  He  had  fallen  back  again  to  the  human  point ;  he  who 
had  touched  the  divine  glory  fell  into  the  dust  trodden  by  the  feet 
of  men,  and  he  was  no  longer  either  blessed  with  a  benediction 
or  entrusted  with  an  authority. 

Christ  himself  never  fell  below  the  divine.  In  no  instance  can 
you  lay  your  finger  upon  a  single  line  which  contains  the  an- 
nouncement that  for  one  moment  the  great  life  faltered.  Every 
other  life  hesitated,  had  its  spasms  of  virtue,  its  sunshiny  hours, 
its  unfaithful  actions,  but  I  cannot  find  a  line  in  all  the  Book  in 
which  Jesus  Christ  falls  below  the  purpose  with  which  he  began 
his  life.  In  such  a  consistency  there  ought  to  be  some  force  of 
logic. 

How  subtle  was  this  temptation.  It  came  from  a  friend,  from 
the  first  friend,  the  senior  disciple — surely  there  could  be  no 
poison  in  such  a  suggestion  ;  it  sprang  from  the  heart,  it  was  the 
utterance  of  tender  compassion  and  protective  sympathy.  It  came 
from  a  friend  just  honoured,  from  a  man  to  whom  the  Lord  had 
just  granted  the  sublimest  revelation.  It  was  a  generous  thought 
— the  intention  was  to  spare  suffering  ;  it  was  the  voice  of  nature. 
Peter  could  not  endure  that  his  Lord  should  be  so  treated.  Yet 
such  a  temptation  fell  impotently  upon  Jesus  Christ,  because  Jesus 
Christ's  fundamental  principle  was  this  :  that  whatever  was  not 
sacrificial  was  Satanic.  A  philosophy  in  a  sentence,  an  inspiration 
in  a  breath  !  Written  in  his  heart,  inscribed  in  his  mind,  higher 
than  Pilate's  superscription  engraven  on  his  cross,  was  the  pro- 
found philosophy 

Whatever  is  not  sacrificial  is  Satanic 


LXIX. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  when  the  anthem  is  sung  in  Heaven,  may  we  all  be 
there,  no  wanderer  lost  in  all  the  great  wilderness — the  old  man  and  the 
young  child,  may  we  all  be  where  age  is  no  more  infirmity,  where  we 
shall  spend  an  eternal  summer  in  the  smile  of  thy  love.  We  bless  thee 
for  all  uplifting  ministries,  for  voices  that  penetrate  the  soul,  for  lights 
that  make  the  darkness  flee  away  as  if  in  pain,  for  all  comforts  that  give 
rest  and  hope  to  those  that  are  ill  at  ease.  We  thank  thee  that  thou  art 
mindful  of  us  every  day — thou  hast  a  gospel  for  every  morning,  and  thy 
stars  are  eloquent  with  new  voices  every  night.  There  is  no  searching 
of  thy  understanding  ;  thou  art  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think.  Our  little  thought  cannot  reach  to  thy  great  sky 
— when  we  have  climbed  the  upmost  height  thou  dost  lift  the  arch  above 
us  by  the  measure  of  the  infinity,  not  to  mock  our  strength,  but  to  excite 
and  inspire  our  prayer. 

Thou  hast  set  before  us  continually  the  cross  of  salvation  because  the 
cross  of  sacrifice.  We  see  the  uplifted  Son  of  God,  we  behold  him  slain, 
we  know  that  he  was  slain  for  our  offences — we  see  his  shame,  his  humili- 
ation. They  spat  upon  him.  they  took  a  reed  and  smote  him  in  the  face, 
they  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns  and  crushed  it  into  his  temples.  He  was 
delivered  for  our  offences  ;  we  see  the  nails,  we  see  the  spear-thrust,  we 
see  the  falling  blood,  we  hear  the  panting  weakness,  we  see  the  languid 
eye,  we  hear  the  "  It  is  finished  "  of  expiring  love.  He  was  wounded  for 
our  transgressions.  We  tarry  awhile  and  behold  the  descending  angel 
and  the  stone  rolled  away  and  the  dead  One  rising  in  all  the  triumph  of 
his  indestructible  power.  We  see  him  ascending  and  a  cloud  receiving 
him  out  of  our  sight.  We  listen,  and  down  through  the  shattered  air 
there  rolls  the  music  of  the  infinite  cry,  "  Worthy  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power  and  riches  and  honour  and  strength  and  blessing." 
May  we  take  part  in  that  great  thunder,  for  he  was  wounded  for  our  trans- 
gressions.    Amen. 

Matthew  xvi.  24-28. 

24.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  If  any  man  will  (This  "  will  "  is 
more  than  a  mere  auxiliary)  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  (empty)  himself, 
and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me. 


CHRIST'S  ESTIMATE   OF  THE  SOUL.  n 

25.  For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  (the  same  as  soul  in  the  next  verse) 
shall  lose  it  :  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it. 

26.  For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and 
lose  his  own  soul  ?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ? 

27.  For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his 
angels  ;  and  then  he  shall  reward  every  man  according  to  his  works. 

28.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  There  be  some  standing  here,  which  shall 
not  taste  of  death  (an  idiomatic  expression,  death  being  represented  as  a 
goblet  full  of  bitterness)  till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  king- 
dom. 

THE  LAW  OF  CHRIST-FOLLOWING. 

HOW  differently  this  passage  reads  when  taken  in  connection 
with  all  that  has  gone  before,  from  what  it  is  often  made 
to  appear  when  taken  out  of  its  setting  and  made  the  basis  of  a 
discourse  upon  the  value  of  the  soul.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  deliver 
these  words  as  a  sermon  to  the  people,  or  as  his  abstract  statement 
of  the  soul's  worth.  He  was  not  speaking  about  immortality,  he 
did  not  probably  bring  within  his  purview  the  term  soul  as  it  is 
often  theologically  and  evangelically  construed.  He  himself  was 
the  Man  spoken  of,  his  own  soul  was  the  soul  which  he  set  against 
the  whole  world's  value.  Peter  had  just  said  to  him,  when  he  had 
spoken  of  going  to  Jerusalem  to  suffer  and  to  be  killed,  "  This  be 
far  from  thee,  Lord. ' '  Peter  could  not  bear  that  his  Lord  should 
expose  himself  voluntarily  to  all  the  indignity  and  suffering  which 
Jesus  Christ  detailed.  The  reply  of  the  Saviour  was  based  on  the 
suggestion  of  Peter  :  "  Peter  bids  me  turn  aside  and  escape  the 
destiny  which  I  came  to  fulfil.  Taking  short  and  narrow  views, 
Peter  tells  me  in  effect  to  save  myself — but  I  came  into  the  world 
expressly  to  do  this  very  work  and  no  other.  This  is  my  soul, 
my  life,  this  is  the  very  reason  of  my  incarnation.  What  then 
should  I  be  profited  if  I  gained  the  whole  world  and  insulted  the 
very  genius  of  my  being  and  perverted  the  destiny  which  I  was 
born  to  realize  ?" 

Jesus  Christ  thus  enters  the  sanctuary  ■  of  great  principles,  and 
builds  his  life-house  upon  a  rock.  He  looked  to  duty,  and  did 
not  exercise  his  inventiveness  in  finding  escapes  from  it.  He 
kept  his  eyes  steadily  upon  the  beckoning  Destiny,  and  whither  it 
beckoned  he  went,  and  whosoever  sought  to  hinder  his  advance- 
ment was  Satan,  and  was  ordered  behind.     To  this  end  was  Jesus 


12  MATTHEW  XVI.  24-28. 

born,  for  this  purpose  he  came  into  the  world,  and  knowing  this 
he  hardened  his  face  that  he  might  go  unto  Jerusalem.  There  is 
a  beautiful  artistic  completeness  about  the  statement  well  worthy 
of  note.  Jesus  said  unto  his  disciples  how  that  he  must  GO — so 
we  read  in  verse  twenty-one — in  the  twenty- fourth  verse  we  read, 
"  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  If  any  man  will  COME" — 
that  is  completeness.  First,  he  himself  must  go,  and  in  the  second 
instance,  if  any  man  will  come. 

This  is  the  setting  of  the  divine  grace,  in  all  the  solemn  order 
of  providence  and  in  all  the  outgoing  of  the  divine  decree.  Sov- 
ereignty and  spontaneity,  lordship  and  liberty,  destiny  and  volun- 
tary acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  great  challenge.  There  is  no 
asking,  "  Shall  we  go — will  it  not  be  well  to  go — ought  we  not  to 
consider  whether  we  should  go  ?"  The  first  tone  shatters  the  air, 
"  I  MUST  ;"  the  next  falls  upon  the  air  like  a  pleading  gospel, 
like  a  gracious  appeal,  "  If  any  man  will  come."  Would  he  then 
have  gone,  if  no  man  had  answered,  "Lord,  I  will  come?" 
Certainly.  All  this  will  come  up  again  in  the  great  audit  :  he  is 
laying  the  basis  and  the  foundation  of  judgment  as  well  as  the 
basis  and  foundation  of  redemption  ;  the  cross  would  be  set  up, 
the  sorrow,  the  suffering  would  be  endured  if  no  answering  heart 
called  him  Lord  and  Saviour.  Sin  must  be  encountered,  a  divine 
answer  must  be  given  to  a  Satanic  challenge  and  a  human  apos- 
tasy, and  that  divine  answer  could  be  given  only  through  the 
medium  of  the  tragic  cross.  What  an  */"is  this — "  If  any  will 
come"! — and  yet  in  another  mood  he  says,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted 
up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me. "  Still,  even  in  that  bold  declara- 
tion of  sovereignty,  it  is  drawing,  not  driving — alluring  by  the 
sweet  compulsion  of  infinite  love,  and  not  scourging  with  iron  rods 
or  stinging  scorpions. 

Here  is  a  great  gospel  invitation,  the  tender  thing  we  call  the 
love  of  God.  Standing  before  us  in  figured  image,  it  says,  "  If 
any  man  will  come."  And  yet  the  artistic  completeness  does  not 
terminate  there.  Jesus  said  how  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem  and 
suffer  and  be  killed.  "  If  any  man  will- come  after  me  let  him 
take  up  his  cross. "  Here  is  the  balance  of  the  picture,  this  is  the 
symmetry  of  the  grand  delineation  — Jesus  at  the  head  yonder 
with  a  great  cross  crushing  him,  and  the  next  man  at  an  infinite 


THE  SECRET  OF  OUTWARD  PEACE.  13 

distance  with  his  lesser  cross,  and  then  the  crowd,  and  then  the 
great  innumerable  throng  which  no  man  can  number,  but  every 
man  with  his  own  cross,  every  man  going  to  be  killed,  but  going 
to  be  killed  with  Christ,  and  therefore  not  to  be  killed  at  all  ! 

The  sublime  reply  of  Jesus  Christ  to  his  generous  but  mistaken 
disciple  contains  a  whole  philosophy  of  life.  Jesus  Christ  tells 
Peter  that  self-protection  on  narrow  lines  is  self-destruction.  He 
startled  Peter  by  his  paradox,  ' '  Whosoever  shall  save  his  life  will 
lose  it,  and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it." 
A  shrewd  Peasant,  a  marvellous  thing  for  a  carpenter's  Son,  and 
nothing  more,  to  have  said  !  Why,  it  turns  upside  down  all  ordi- 
nary human  thinking.  It  reads  like  a  contradiction  and  a  self- 
collision  of  statement.  Read  it  again.  "  Whosoever  will  save  his 
life  shall  lose  it,  and  whosoever  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall 
find  it. "  Can  this  be  explained  in  words  and  defended  by  narrow 
logic  ?  It  can  only  be  understood  by  our  most  sanctified  feeling, 
and  realized  and  endorsed  by  actual  personal  experience. 

Jesus  Christ  teaches  that  inward  peace  must  never  be  sacrificed 
to  outward  ease.  A  lie  might  help  us  oftentimes  to  momentary 
rest,  a  great  black  falsehood  might  be  the  softest  pillow  sometimes 
on  which  for  the  time  being  to  rest  an  aching  head.  Of  what  ac- 
count is  it  if  there  be  great  outward  peace,  whilst  the  heart  is  at 
war  with  itself,  whilst  there  is  a  scorpion  in  the  inner  nature,  sting- 
ing the  conscience  and  inflicting  mortal  pain  ?  Your  plaudits  can- 
not reach  me  with  any  measure  of  satisfaction  if  there  be  not  an 
inward  voice  which  attests  that  they  are  righteously  bestowed — they 
fall  upon  me  as  foam  flecks  the  rock  it  cannot  penetrate.  You 
might  gather  around  your  friend,  pour  upon  him  the  billows  of 
your  approbation  and  applause,  yet  if  his  heart  said  to  him,  "  You 
have  no  right  to  this,"  all  those  billows  would  chase  one  another 
to  their  destruction,  and  never  enter  the  soul  they  were  intended 
to  bless.  Contrariwise,  you  have  also  a  profound  truth — if  there 
is  really  peace  in  your  heart,  any  outside  storm  can  have  no  effect 
upon  you.  Jesus  Christ  adds  by  suggestion  that  no  motive  is  to 
be  relied  upon  that  is  not  drawn  from  a  divine  centre.  Herein 
we  fail  so  much — our  motive  has  not  reach  enough.  A  man  may 
be  strong,  and  the  stone  which  he  may  be  attempting  to  remove 
out  of  his  way  be  a  real  stumbling-block  and  ought  to  be  removed, 


H  MATTHEW  XVI.  24-28. 

but  if  he  have  not  leverage  enough  his  strength  is  wasted  in  vain 
endeavour.  What  we  want  in  life  is  more  leverage,  and  that  need- 
ful leverage  can  be  realized  only  when  it  has  a  heavenly  purchase. 
Every  motive  that  is  not  profoundly  religious  expires  ere  it  accom- 
plishes any  work  that  is  worth  doing.  No  heroism  can  sustain  it- 
self up  to  the  point  of  conquest  that  is  not  inspired  by  an  adequate 
motive.  What  is  the  adequate  motive  of  human  life?  God's 
sovereignty,  God's  love,  human  stewardship,  a  profound  and 
gracious  sense  of  responsibility,  and  an  appreciation  of  those  op- 
portunities for  fulfilling  that  responsibility  which  constitutes  the 
very  glory  and  dignity  of  our  human  life.  You  are,  it  may  be, 
operating  with  too  s?nall  a  motive,  your  weapons  are  unequal  to 
the  war — there  are  r.o  weapons  equal  to  this  contest  that  are  not 
provided  by  the  Almighty  Captain  of  the  fight. 

Having  heard  Jesus  Christ  speak  so,  I  say  this  is  abstractly 
splendid  ;  if  it  be  fanaticism  it  is  of  a  royal  type.  I  speak  of  Jesus 
Christ,  therefore,  in  view  of  these  answers,  in  no  measured  terms 
of  applause  ;  but,  say  I,  it  is  the  coward's  trick  ;  say  I,  this  is 
very  fine  in  the  abstract,  but  you  cannot  live  upon  these  principles. 
No  doubt  the  principles  are  very  noble,  and  there  is  about  them  a 
tender  grace  and  something  affectingly  pathetic  and  pensive  ;  no 
doubt  the  Man's  Avords  are  of  a  very  high  quality,  but,  I  fear, 
words  only.  Now,  Jesus  Christ  preached  the  sermon  himself,  and 
immediately  stepped  down  out  of  the  pulpit  to  give  them  practical 
application  in  his  own  life.  He  lived  his  sermon.  Whilst  we  called 
it  abstract,  bordering  on  the  fanatical,  very  noble  in  theory  but 
impracticable  in  execution,  he  went  out  and  did  it.  He  is  the 
same  in  every  verse  ;  he  never  lowers  his  dignity,  he  never  tampers 
with  his  purpose,  he  nevgr  makes  the  devil  a  bid  that  he  may 
escape  one  pang  of  agony. 

It  is  worth  our  while,  therefore,  as  followers  of  Jesus  Christ,  to 
enquire  somewhat  into  this  philosophy  of  his.  How  did  it  come 
that  Jesus  Christ  could  treat  his  own  death  in  this  way  ?  Read  the 
passage  in  its  wholeness  and  you  will  have  the  musical  and  effective 
answer.  Your  inquiry  is  about  death,  but  Jesus  Christ's  speech 
was  not  about  death  only.  You  pause  at  an  intermediate  word  ; 
you  do  not  take  in  the  whole  heroism  of  the  case.  The  very  first 
point  of  darkness  arrests  you,  and  beyond  it  you  see  no  outlook. 


RIGHT  VIEW  OF  DEATH.  15 

How  did  Jesus  Christ  treat  the  fact  of  his  own  death  ?  He  recog- 
nised it,  he  set  it  down  as  a  fact ;  it  never  occurred  to  him  to  view 
it  as  a  mere  possibility  or  a  high  probability,  or  something  that 
could  be  coloured,  mitigated,  or  affected  in  his  interest.  Solemn- 
ly, clearly,  unflinchingly  he  recognised  the  fact  that  he  must  go 
and  be  killed,  but  beside  grim  Death  he  set  bright  Resurrection, 
for  he  added,  "  and  be  raised  again  the  third  day."  "  Weeping 
may  endure  for  a  night ;  joy  cometh  in  the  morning."  Death  is 
temporary,  Resurrection  is  eternal.  Our  light  affliction  is  but  for 
a  moment,  whilst  we  look  at  things  not  seen.  Stop  at  death  only, 
and  the  strongest  man's  knees  may  well  knock  against  each  other 
in  mortal  terror.  It  is  not  easy  to  die:  it  cannot  he,  pleasant  to 
have  the  last  interview,  to  put  out  a  thin,  wasted,  trembling  hand, 
and  to  say,  in  a  hoarse  whisper,  "  Good-bye."  It  cannot  be  one 
of  life's  luxuries.  The  Christian  is  called  upon  not  to  look  at 
death  only,  but  at  resurrection  ;  then  in  the  "  Farewell"  i&a  sub- 
tle hint  of  reunion  ;  in  the  tremulous  "  Good-bye"  is  an  under- 
tone that  signifies  "  for  a  moment — at  the  other  end  of  the  valley 
we  meet  and  part  no  more."  -+ 

To  resurrection  he  added  Glory :  "  The  Son  of  man  shall  come 
in  the  glory  of  his  father  with  his  angels."  To  glory  he  added 
kingdom:  "Till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  his  king- 
dom." Now,  how  does  death  look?  A  frightened  coward! 
Now  the  foe  falls  back  into  proper  perspective  :  a  shadow  fleeing 
away  in  the  chasing  light  of  Resurrection,  Glory,  Kingdom,  and 
all  heaven  ringing  with  acclaim  of  welcome  and  "Well  done!" 
Death  should  never  be  looked  at  alone.  You  will  frighten  your- 
self if  you  look  at  death  only  ;  death  is  what  its  surroundings  are. 
Surround  it  with  farewell,  lamentation,  upbreaking  of  purpose, 
failure — surround  it  with  grim,  ghastly,  heart-distressing  attend- 
ants, and  death  will  have  its  sting  and  the  grave  its  victory  ;  but 
surround  it  with  Resurrection,  Glory,  Kingdom,  Reunion,  Fellow- 
ship, a  land  in  which  there  is  no  night,  no  pain,  no  sea,  no  sick- 
ness, no  sin,  no  enemy,  and  the  soul  says,  "  I  have  a  desire  to 
encounter  the  foe,  that  by  overcoming  him  in  God's  strength  I 
may  enter  the  inheritance  incorruptible,  undeflled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away. ' ' 

Put  death  in  all  its  right  perspective,  do  not  admit  it  to  the  front 


1 6  MATTHEW  XVI.  24-28. 

line  at  all  :  put  resurrection,  glory,  kingdom,  heaven,  triumph,  in 
the  front,  and  then  you  will  see  death  fleeing  away  like  a  shadow 
chased  by  shafts  of  light.  Then  cometh  the  time  when  death 
shall  be  swallowed  up  in  victory,  and  a  tone  of  triumph  and  of 
mockery,  of  gracious  delight  and  keen  taunt,  shall  be  heard  : 
' '  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ? 
Spoiled  are  both  of  ye,  and  your  short  reign  comes  to  an  inglori- 
ous end." 

Whilst  all  this  applies  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  was,  in  my  opinion, 
in  the  first  instance  applied  to  himself,  yet  there  is  no  reason  why 
we  should  not  accommodate  it  to  our  own  life  and  to  our  own 
spiritual  condition.  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  sight?  How  would  you  view  that  prop- 
osition ?  You  shall  have  estates,  lines  of  houses,  mines  of  gold, 
and  in  exchange  you  must  pay  your  sight.  Will  you  conclude 
the  bargian  ?  What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  hearing  P  You  shall  have  diamonds  in  multi- 
tudes that  cannot  be  numbered,  horses,  chariots,  men-servants  and 
women-servants,  and  all  the  delights  of  the  sons  of  men,  but  you 
shall  pay  your  hearing  in  exchange  for  the  bounty  ;  you  shall 
never  hear  the  human  voice  again,  its  eloquence,  its  song,  its 
friendly  word,  its  kind  salute — what  say  you  ?  Does  any  man 
offer  the  price  ?  Would  it  be  too  much  to  pay  ?  What  wonder, 
then,  if  Jesus  Christ,  reasoning  a  fortiori,  should  say,  "  if  you  will 
not  pay  your  sight,  if  you  will  not  pay  your  hearing,  in  exchange 
for  what  the  world  has  and  can  give,  what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if 
he  gain  it  all,  and  pay  for  it  his  Soul  P  A  soul  paid  for  a  month's 
comfort,  eternity  ruined  at  the  price  of  a  day's  release  from  pain, 
Heaven  paid  in  exchange  for  hell."     These  are  the  ironies  of  life  ! 

Such  things  are  done  every  day  by  men  who  lay  claim  to  some 
measure  of  intelligence.  Within  us  there  is  a  power  against  which 
our  best  impluses  and  noblest  purposes  contend  in  vain — they  go 
down  before  its  savage  strength  in  utter  helplessness,  and  are 
crushed  by  its  iron  heel  with  all  the  delight  of  satisfied  malevo- 
lence. A  wondrous  battlefield  is  the  human  heart !  if  a  battle  that 
may  be  called  where  the  slaughter  is  all  on  one  side  and  the  prey 
falls  into  one  hand.  What  is  the  remedy  ?  Crucifixion  we  must 
have.  Our  opportunity  lies  in  the  grand  choice  between  being 
crucified  by  others  and  crucifying  ourselves.     Jesus  Christ  said,  "  I 


ALTERNATIVE   CRUCIFIXIONS.  17 

lay  down  my  life  ;  no  man  taketh  it  from  me, ' '  except  in  a  very 
secondary  and  temporary  sense.  There  was  his  peace.  "  I  lay 
down  my  life  for  the  sheep.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down  and  to 
take  it  again."  Crucifixion  there  must  be  in  human  life,  as  it  is 
now  debased  and  corrupted.  The  question  is  whether  the  cruci- 
fixion shall  come  from  the  outside  and  thus  be  mere  murder,  or 
whether  it  shall  come  out  of  the  will,  being  done  by  the  man  him- 
self, and  thus  be  a  great  sacrifice.  Such  is  the  election  now  open 
to  us — Murder  or  Sacrifice — to  be  slain  by  the  enemy,  or  slay  our- 
selves in  Christ's  society  and  on  Christ's  own  cross.  Suffering  you 
cannot  escape — the  question  is  whether  you  will  suffer  from  the 
outside  or  whether  you  will  suffer  sympathetically  with  the  Son  of 
God,  and,  knowing  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  afterwards 
enter  into  the  power  of  his  resurrection. 


SELECTED  NOTES. 


Verse  19. — To  have  the  keys,  is  the  sign  of  administrative  authority  : 
to  bind  and  to  loose,  are  figures  for  the  exercise  of  such  authority.  The 
Apostles  expected  to  be  rulers  in  an  earthly  kingdom,  and  to  have  their 
acts  sanctioned  and  supported  by  an  earthly  king.  They  were  assured  of 
a  higher  dignity  than  this.  Not  that  the  will  of  God  would  change  to 
agree  with  their  will  ;  but  that  their  will  would  be  brought  to  agree  with 
his,  and  their  agency  be  employed  in  teaching  and  governing. 

Verse  20.  —The  verbal  declaration  would  now  only  promote  popular 
excitement. 

Verse  22. — Peter  supposed  that  his  Lord  was  unduly  discouraged,  and 
elated  by  the  commendation  just  received,  he  presumed  to  speak  as  if  he 
were  wiser  ;  thinking  the  predictions  of  the  Old  Testament  made  the 
death  of  Christ  impossible.  He  had  been  named  a  sione  for  building,  he 
now  became  a  stone  of  hindrance.  What  was  appointed  and  approved  of 
God,  was  different  from  what  was  expected  and  desired  by  men,  and  it 
was  much  better.  Christ  spoke  first  of  his  own  sufferings,  and  then  of 
those  of  his  disciples.  He  would  not  call  them  to  death,  till  he  could  bid 
them  in  this  also  follow  him. 


LXX. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  hasten  unto  thee  as  men  who  are  chased  by  a 
great  fear  or  driven  by  the  necessity  of  pain.  There  is  no  rest  but  in 
thyself,  nor  is  there  any  healing  for  the  sore  heart  but  in  the  grace  that  is 
all  sufficient.  We  fly  unto  thee  ;  yea,  our  hearts  long  with  much  yearn- 
ing and  pining  of  love  to  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord.  Place  us  where  thou 
wilt,  but  be  thou  with  us,  and  the  place  is  heaven.  We  would  never  be 
without  thee,  we  would  have  thee  within  us  and  without  us,  a  crown  upon 
the  head,  a  fire  in  the  heart,  a  voice  filling  the  sanctuary  of  the  whole  life. 
Thou  hast  thyself  given  unto  us  this  desire  ;  and,  behold,  whilst  we  cher- 
ish it,  it  purifies  the  soul  and  lifts  up  the  whole  nature  towards  the  shin- 
ing and  holy  heavens. 

Jesus  Christ  thy  Son  is  our  Saviour,  mighty  to  save,  able  to  save  unto 
the  uttermost  ;  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever.  He  saved  others,  himself 
he  did  not  save.  He  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  raised  again  for 
our  justification,  and  he  is  now  in  heaven,  turning  our  poor  prayer  into 
his  all-inclusive  and  all-prevalent  intercession.  Whilst  we  look  upon 
Jesus  Christ,  there  is  no  pain  in  the  heart  because  of  sin  :  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  thy  Son  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  Keep  our  hearts  steadily 
fixed  upon  the  cross,  then  shall  the  power  of  sin  be  broken  within  us,  and 
out  of  our  hearts  there  shall  go  one  fervent  desire  to  be  like  the  Saviour 
himself.  That  we  should  have  such  thoughts  as  these  is  of  the  Lord's 
doing — no  creations  of  our  own  are  these.  This  also  cometh  forth  from 
the  Lord  of  Hosts  :  we  see  his  hand  herein,  and  herein  do  we  hear  his 
voice. 

Continue  to  establish  us  in  the  love  of  truth  ;  may  our  desire  be  for  the 
light  that  shineth  from  heaven,  may  our  one  purpose  be  to  know  thy  will, 
and  to  do  it  with  both  hands  earnestly,  as  men  who  have  but  one  master 
to  please  and  one  will  to  consult. 

For  all  thy  mercy  how  shall  we  praise  thee  in  song  sweet  and  loud 
enough  ?  We  fail  in  our  praise  as  we  fail  in  all  other  duty  and  service  ; 
we  cannot  reach  the  height  of  our  own  gladness,  it  lies  beyond  all  our 
power  of  speech  ;  we  pray  thee,  therefore,  to  look  into  our  hearts  and  to 
read  there  the  songs  that  cannot  be  uttered.  We  have  nothing  that  we 
have  not  received  :  thy  name  is  upon  all  that  we  have  enjoyed,  yea  thou 
hast  spread  our  table,  thou  hast  anointed  our  head  with  oil,  thou  hast 
caused  our  cup  to  run  over,  and  what  we  have  to  fear,  the  valley  of  the 


PRAYER.  19 

shadow  of  death,  thou  hast  lighted  up  into  a  way  leading  homeward  unto 
the  Fatherland.  Thou  dost  give  us  good  desires  ;  thou  knowest  how 
these  are  besieged  by  the  enemy  as  citadels  that  must  be  overthrown. 
Thou  hast  again  and  again  given  unto  us  the  spirit  of  prayer,  and  yet 
have  we  been  called  to  sore  contest  and  fierce  wrestling  in  the  wilderness 
because  the  enemy  would  not  allow  our  whole  prayer  to  rise  up  unto 
heaven  and  bring  down  the  answer  from  thence. 

We  are  filled  with  a  sense  of  our  own  mysteriousness  :  surely  thou  hast 
made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves  :  we  are  the  creatures  of  thine  hand,  and 
though  we  cannot  understand  ourselves,  yet  dost  thou  give  us  occasional 
light :  not  altogether  hast  thou  withheld  the  illuminating  beam.  We  have 
seen  somewhat  of  ourselves,  of  our  greatness  and  littleness,  of  our  possi- 
bilities of  union  with  thyself,  and  of  the  certainty  of  our  disunion  from 
thee.  Show  us  thy  truth,  lead  us  into  the  mystery  of  thy  grace,  and 
wherever  we  are  may  the  cross  be  the  centre  of  our  circle,  and  may  all  the 
light  we  work  by  stream  from  its  head. 

Thou  seest  us  through  and  through,  and  there  is  nothing  hidden  from 
thee.  How  many  days  we  have  to  spend  upon  the  earth  thou  knowest  ; 
our  pulses  have  been  numbered  in  heaven,  the  time  of  the  lengthening  of 
the  shadow  is  set  down  in  thy  book  ;  we  know  nothing,  for  we  are  but  of 
yesterday,  and  to-morrow  is  our  great  hope  and  our  great  fear.  Help  us 
to  stand  steadfastly  in  the  confidence  that  God  will  do  all  things  well. 

Thou  hast  taken  away  from  us  the  delight  of  our  eyes,  as  if  thou  didst 
delight  in  our  pain  and  find  satisfaction  in  the  greatness  of  our  grief  ; 
thou  hast  dug  many  graves  under  our  hearthstone,  thou  hast  caused  the 
foundations  of  the  house  to  tremble,  and  the  roof  has  not  kept  out  the 
storm — yet  hast  thou  been  merciful  withal.  Full  of  tenderness,  thy 
solaces  have  followed  the  visitations  of  thy  rod,  and  thy  grace  has  been 
greater  than  our  sin.  Whilst  we  have  been  speaking  of  death  thou  hast 
been  speaking  of  resurrection,  and  in  the  time  of  our  sorest  grief  thou 
hast  been  preparing  for  us  our  gladdest  surprises.  Kindly  look  upon  us 
all  ;  let  thy  glance  have  nothing  in  it  of  the  fire  of  judgment,  but  all  the 
warmth  and  beauty  of  a  tender  smile. 

Direct  those  who  are  perplexed  and  sore  driven  and  often  ill  at  ease,  to 
whom  night  brings  no  rest  and  the  day  brings  double  care  ;  show  men 
that  prosperity  itself  is  an  opportunity  for  humility  and  lowliness  before 
God.  Teach  the  rich  man  that  his  riches  are  but  for  a  moment,  and  may 
at  any  time  fall  out  of  his  hand  and  leave  him  poor  indeed.  Teach  the 
poor  man  that  his  poverty  may  become  a  means  of  grace,  and  may  lead 
him  to  the  deepest  considerations  which  can  move  and  elevate  human 
thought.  Speak  to  the  young  comfortably  and  inspiringly,  chastening 
their  enthusiasm,  sanctifying  the  passion  of  their  fire,  and  make  them 
servants  of  the  altar. 

Send  out  thy  messages  in  all  directions  to-day.  Give  thine  angels 
strength  to  carry  them  everywhere.  Put  into  the  tones  of  thy  servants 
music  that  shall  find  and  bless  the  heart.     May  the  gospel  of  God  our 


20  MATTHEW  XVII.  1-13. 

Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Victim  and  the  Priest,  go  forth,  bless- 
ing all  hearts,  all  homes,  all  lands.  Be  with  those  who  are  in  trouble  on 
the  sea,  with  those  who  must  travel  that  they  may  earn  an  honourable 
livelihood,  with  members  of  our  families  in  far-away  colonies  and  foreign 
lands — unite  us  all  by  the  bonds  of  tender  sympathy,  and  in  all  our  hearts 
may  there  be  the  sure  and  confident  hope  of  reunion  in  the  land  on  high. 
Oh  that  our  prayer  might  be  mighty, — that  it  might  prevail  in  heaven, 
— that  after  its  Amen  there  might  come  a  great  peace  into  the  heart. 
Amen. 

Matthew  xvii.  1-13. 

1.  And  after  six  days  Jesus  taketh  Peter,  James,  and  John  his  brother, 
and  bringeth  them  up  into  an  high  mountain  apart, 

2.  And  was  transfigured  before  them  :  and  his  face  did  shine  as  the 
sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light. 

3.  And,  behold  (introducing  a  greater  marvel  than  even  the  metamor- 
phosis) there  appeared  unto  them  Moses  and  Elias  talking  with  him. 

4.  Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to 
be  here  :  if  thou  wilt,  let  us  make  here  three  tabernacles  (arbours,  forest- 
tents,  hermitages),  one  for  thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias. 

5.  While  he  yet  spake,  behold,  a  bright  cloud  overshadowed  them  (as 
the  Sheckinah  overshadowed  the  Virgin),  and  behold  a  voice  out  of  the 
cloud,  which  said,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ; 
hear  ye  him. 

6.  And  when  the  disciples  heard  it,  they  fell  on  their  face,  and  were  sore 
afraid. 

7.  And  Jesus  came  and  touched  them,  and  said,  Arise,  and  be  not  afraid. 

8.  And  when  they  had  lifted  up  their  eyes  they  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus 
only. 

9.  And  as  they  came  down  from  the  mountain,  Jesus  charged  them, 
saying,  Tell  the  vision  (Greek  :  -what  they  had  seen)  to  no  man,  until  the 
Son  of  man  be  risen  again  from  the  dead. 

10.  And  his  disciples  asked  him,  saying,  Why  then  say  the  scribes  that 
Elias  must  first  come  ? 

11.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Elias  truly  shall  first  come 
(cometh)  and  restore  (re-establish)  all  things. 

12.  But  I  say  unto  you,  That  Elias  is  come  already,  and  they  knew 
him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him  whatsoever  they  listed.  Likewise  shall 
also  the  Son  of  man  suffer  of  them. 

13.  Then  the  disciples  understood  that  he  spake  unto  them  of  John  the 
Baptist. 


TRINAL  MANHOOD. 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  AND  REVELATION. 

THERE  are  three  accounts  of  the  transfiguration  of  Jesus 
Christ  One  in  the  chapter  we  have  read.  Another  in  the 
ninth  chapter  of  Mark — in  the  tenth  verse  of  Mark' s  account  we 
read,  ' '  And  they  kept  that  saying  with  themselves,  questioning 
with  one  another  what  the  rising  from  the  dead  should  mean. " 
Luke  has  a  somewhat  different  account,  but  substantially  the  same. 
He  tells  us  that  Moses  and  Elias  spake  of  his  decease  which  he 
should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. 

"And  after  six  days."  Does  not  everything  truly  religious 
happen  after  six  days  ?  Is  there  a  measure  or  a  subtle  poetry  in 
time  ?  And  the  Lord  rested  the  seventh  day — and  the  Lord  was 
metamorphosed  on  the  seventh  day.  Let  us  take  note  of  time  and 
of  the  succession  of  events  ;  whilst  men  in  other  sections  of  life  are 
noting  laws  of  averages,  singular  points  of  recurrence  and  coin- 
cidence, let  us  who  live  in  the  Temple  also  have  our  eyes  open 
towards  the  methods  and  periods  of  revelation,  that  we  may  be  well 
read  in  the  time-bill  of  Heaven.  O  fools  and  slow  of  heart,  to 
read  all  the  literature  of  the  six  days  and  understand  it,  and  all  the 
signs  of  the  weather  and  comprehend  them,  and  yet  to  leave 
unread  and  unpenetrated  the  secret  which  is  the  glory  of  all  things  ! 
Luke  has  '  *  after  eight  days. "  It  is  the  same  thing — the  two  days 
are  counted  which  began  and  ended.  The  three  evangelists  con- 
cur in  stating  that  is  was  after  six  days  the  Lord  was  metamorphosed 
before  three  of  his  chosen  ones.  After  six  days  we  need  some- 
thing :  after  six  days'  toil  and  weariness,  exhausted  in  strength, 
cast  down  in  spirit,  struck  by  a  thousand  crossing  darts,  we  require 
protection,  security,  revelation,  uplifting,  an  experience  and  glad- 
ness of  better  worlds. 

"Jesus  taketh  Peter,  and  James,  and  John."  He  was  always 
taking  those  men  somewhere.  He  always  had  his  three  mighties 
— as  for  the  rest  of  us,  it  is  said,  ' '  They  did  not  attain  unto  the 
first  three."  We  cannot  understand  these  divine  and  human 
trinities  :  things  duplicate  one  another,  and  are  full  of  subtle  and 
bewildering  typologies.     Similitudes  that  are  round  about  us,  the 


22  MATTHEW  XVII.  1-13. 

unwritten  yet  ever  vivid  parables,  do  but  distress  our  poor  weak 
thinking  and  make  fools  of  us.  Yet  is  there  music  in  the  mystery 
as  there  are  stars  hidden  in  the  darkness.  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob 
— Peter,  James,  John — the  Old  Testament  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment each  has  its  trinity  of  manhood.  Let  those  who  are  curious 
about  such  matters — and  the  curiosity  is  permissible  and  instructive 
— consider  the  different  characteristics  and  temperaments  of  these 
men,  and  see  how  the  three  are  one  and  the  one  three,  on  earth 
as  in  heaven,  and  on  earth  as  certainly  as  in  heaven.  God  made 
man  in  his  own  image  and  likeness,  and  it  takes  three  of  us  to 
make  up  the  whole  man.  Why  be  little,  separated,  isolated  creat- 
ures, having  no  connection  with  counterparts  and  complements  ? 
Why  not  answer  the  hunger  of  the  heart,  which  says,  ' '  I  am  not 
self-complete,"  and  go  out  in  the  direction  of  fellowship,  union, 
and  integrity  ? 

"  Jesus  taketh  Peter,  James,  and  John,  and  bringeth  them  up 
into  a  high  mountain  apart."  High  places  should  bring  high 
thoughts  ;  matter  should  help  spirit ;  no  man  should  be  vulgar  on 
the  top  of  a  mountain.  Our  pulses  should  "be  throbbing  with 
the  fulness  of  the  spring. ' '  This  is  the  purpose  of  having  con- 
secrated houses,  churches  set  apart  for  one  object,  whose  very  air 
is  full  of  blessing.  A  man  ought  to  lose  all  his  lower  nature  in  the 
face  of  a  sunset.  It  should  make  him  religious,  if  not  Christian. 
At  such  a  farewell  he  should  tremble  with  the  desire  to  ascend 
himself  to  a  purer  clime.  So  in  the  church  he  should  be  alone, 
though  urged  by  the  crowd  ;  he  should  give  himself  up  to  the 
genius  of  the  place  and  be  a  child  at  home. 

We  are  mountain-born,  if  we  did  but  know  it ;  we  are  all  hill- 
men.  There  be  those  who  take  us  to  the  high  mountains  to  show 
us  our  littleness,  and  they  do  well.  They  say,  "  Look  up,  there 
are  three  thousand  feet  of  rock  above  you  ;  do  you  not  feel  small 
— a  grasshopper  in  the  presence  of  such  hugeness  ?' '  Partly  I  do, 
yet  not  wholly.  Watch  me  as,  with  staff  in  hand,  I  climb,  and  as 
I  climb  I  grow,  and  by-and-by  I  stand  above  the  rock,  and  ask  it 
if  it  be  not  a  pedestal  for  a  monument.  Were  I  rooted  in  the 
ground  and  could  only  look  at  the  huge  elevation,  I  might  faint 
in  heart  and  say,  "  How  little  I  am  ;"  but,  knowing  that  I  can 
put  the  loftiest  mountain  of  the  earth  under  my  feet,  stand  upon  it 


DAYS  OF  REVELATION.  23 

and  lift  my  hand  to  a  height  it  never  climbed,  I  am  greater  than 
the  mountain.  We  should  all  betake  ourselves  to  high  places  and 
secret  temples  ;  we  should  often  meet  God  on  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  and  especially  early  in  the  morning,  the  time  when 
Moses  went  to  see  the  Lord.  Then  should  we  come  back  with  the 
dew  of  heaven  upon  our  lives,  baptized  anew,  refreshed,  and 
jewelled,  and  blessed  ;  and  the  day,  how  thick  soever  should  be 
its  trials,  and  fierce  soever  its  fights,  should  give  way  before  us, 
recognising  the  shining  of  our  face  and  the  sanctity  of  our  whole 
mien. 

"  And  was  transfigured  before  them,"  metamorphosed,  changed 
into  another  being.  He  was  three  in  one,  he  was  one  in  three. 
Before  this  they  had  not  seen  their  Lord,  they  had  but  seen  their 
teacher;  one  ray  of  his  glory  fell  upon  them  and  startled  them  with 
a  wondrous  surprise.  There  are  occasional  moments  when  a 
man  sees  himself,  when  he  is,  so  to  say,  metamorphosed  to  his  own 
vision.  Usually  we  live  dull,  gray,  languid,  commonplace  lives  ; 
we  are  not  often  roused  to  our  fullest  strength — yet  now  and  again 
things  occur  in  life  which  reveal  us  to  ourselves.  So  also  with 
others.  We  do  not  see  one  another,  except  it  may  be  on  a  seventh 
day  now  and  then,  a  Sabbath,  a  jubilee,  a  funeral  day,  when  fear 
seizes  the  life  and  makes  us  show  our  true  resources  and  the  very 
roots  of  our  strength,  which  are  often  but  the  roots  of  our  weakness, 
a  joy-day,  whose  air  vibrates  with  clanging  bells,  a  wedding  day,  a 
birthday,  an  emancipation  day,  and  then  from  our  very  faces  there 
radiates  a  light  which  never  shone  there  in  the  vision  of  man  be- 
fore. We  are  all  conscious  of  waking-up  times,  when  we  lay  hold 
upon  our  whole  strength  and  realize  every  fibre  and  element  and 
force  of  our  manhood.  That  is  always  after  six  days  of  troubled 
wonder,  bewildering  study,  distracted,  often  shattered,  often  disap- 
pointed exercise  of  love. 

Some  persons  we  never  have  seen  but  once,  though  we  have 
associated  with  them  for  years.  You  must  keep  your  eye  always 
on  the  face  of  your  friend  if  you  would  really  know  him.  When 
you  are  not  looking,  he  may  be  himself — it  was  when  you  did  not 
see  him  that  he  gave  the  revealing  look,  it  was  when  you  did  not 
hear  him  that  the  revealing  tone  entered  into  his  voice — a  word,. 
a  cry,  a  glance,  a  touch,  and  the  vision  is  past,  for  ever. 


24  MATTHEW  XVII.  1-13. 

Jesus  talked  to  Moses  and  Elias,  and  they  spake  to  him  of  the 
decease  which  he  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  The  English 
word  decease  does  not  hold  all  the  meaning  of  that  profound,  most 
mysterious  interview.  They  talked  of  the  decessus,  the  exodus  of 
Moses,  the  exodus  which  Moses  left  unaccomplished,  the  outgoing 
which  seemed  to  have  no  corresponding  incoming.  They  spoke 
of  the  decessus,  the  exodus  of  the  nobler  Moses,  who  would  bring 
to  perfectness  of  accomplishment  the  outgoing  and  the  home- 
coming, for  he  should  accomplish  the  decessus  at  Jerusalem,  may- 
hap not  the  death  only,  coming  back  into  resurrection,  but  the 
other  part  of  the  decessus,  the  outgoing,  the  uprising,  the  ascension, 
the  whole  tragedy — a  subject  worthy  of  such  speakers. 

Why  do  we  detach  ourselves  from  our  ancestry  above  ?  We  be- 
long to  the  grand  heroic  days.  We  never  meet  in  God's  house 
without  coming  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  the 
spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect.  We  also  are  compassed  about 
with  a  great  cloud  of  witnesses  ;  why  let  our  eyes  plunge  themselves 
in  the  cold  walls  as  terminal  lines  ?  We  are  not  come  to  the 
mount  that  might  be  touched,  but  to  Mount  Zion,  more  a  life  than 
a  mountain,  the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem. 
When  these  reflections  seize  the  mind  and  fill  it  with  all  their 
poetry  and  stir  it  with  all  their  ineffable  passion,  we  too  are  meta- 
morphosed, our  hymn  is  not  sung  by  ourselves  alone  ;  or,  if  we 
have  a  hymn  of  our  own,  they  have  a  hymn  of  theirs,  and  the 
hymns  melt  and  blend,  and  being  transfused,  strength  to  strength, 
passion  to  passion,  "  They  sing  the  Lamb  in  hymns  above,  And 
we  in  hymns  below."  We  are  limited  and  humbled  by  our  weak- 
ness, they  are  conscious  of  immortality  and  imperishable  strength. 
They  in  the  kingdom  of  his  light,  we  in  the  kingdom  of  his  trial 
— the  kingdoms  are  but  one.  Why  do  we  detach  ourselves  from 
the  grand  unity  of  humanity,  why  do  we  set  up  ourselves  in  petty 
self-completeness  ?  Thus  we  lose  everything  :  we  are  scattered 
pebbles,  not  a  massive  and  sacred  temple.  Adam  and  Moses, 
Elias  and  Isaiah,  Peter  and  Paul — these  are  my  ancestors.  Thus 
"the  dead  loom  upon  us  large  and  solemn,  not  to  dwarf  our 
stature,  but  to  show  to  what  bigness  we  may  grow. ' '  And  when 
I  see  to  what  company  I  belong,  the  blood  of  a  thousand  genera- 


RETURN  FROM  THE  MOUNTAIN.  25 

tions  quickens  within  me,  and  I  say,  "  They  that  are  with  me  are 
more  than    they  that  are  against  me." 

Realize  the  unity  of  history,  far  outstretching  lines  that  begin 
apparently  in  the  cross  and  that  do  really  begin  there,  if  we  make 
the  cross  the  first  of  figures,  set  up  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  and  then  see  how  in  Christ  all  things  are  united  that  are  in 
heaven  above  or  on  earth  beneath,  in  the  far-away  twilight  of  his- 
tory, in  its  present  sinning  and  fighting,  and  in  its  last  developments 
and  completions.  He  is  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  First,  the  Last, 
the  Beginning  and  the  End,  the  Root  and  the  Offspring  of  David, 
the  bright  and  Morning  Star.  The  Root  and  the  Offspring — 
always  contradicting  himself  in  words  ;  always  putting  the  world's 
pedantry  to  vexation  ;  and  yet  always,  in  a  large  reconciliation  of 
thought,  finding  a  nobler  eloquence  than  in  the  smooth  nothings 
of  men  who  would  rather  perish  than  be  literally  inconsistent. 
He  Mmse/f  is  a.  contradiction,  the  contradiction  of  all  history,  the 
puzzle  of  all  life — what  wonder  therefore  that  in  words  he  should 
oftentimes  appear  to  be  a  paradox  and  a  self-contradiction,  at  once 
a  root  and  an  offspring  ? 

This  metamorphosis  probably  happened  at  night.  Probably, 
because  Luke  says,  "  And  the  next  day,"  and  probably,  also,  be- 
cause of  the  overwhelming  sleep  which  the  disciples  felt.  Perhaps 
it  was  not  what  we  call  now  sleep,  perhaps  it  was  a  clairvoyant 
state.  It  was  no  slothful  sleep,  otherwise  the  purpose  of  the  Lord 
had  been  frustrated  in  taking  them  up  the  mountain  to  behold  the 
metamorphosis.  It  was  a  singular  stupefaction  a  bewilderment, 
an  almost  insanity  and  incoherence,  a  strange  shaking  and  inspira- 
tion of  the  inner  nature,  in  which  the  men  saw  and  heard  and  lived 
as  they  never  saw  and  heard  and  lived  before.  How  the  light 
shone  upon  the  background  of  the  dark  firmament,  the  great  arch 
one  gleam,  and  on  it  a  shining  figure,  white  as  the  light,  and  the 
raiment  streaming  with  rays.  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world"  — 
all  light  concentred  in  that  shining  Figure,  coming  out  of  it  and 
returning  to  it.  That  was  the  true  light  that  lighted  every  man 
that  cometh  into  the  world.  Do  not  blame  the  disciples  as  if  they 
had  fallen  into  a  slothful  sleep  :  there  are  times   when  we  cannot 


26  MATTHEW  XVII.  1-13. 

give  a  correct  account  of  ourselves  or  an  account  that  is  socially 
satisfactory — we  know  not  what  we  say  or  what  we  do.  Unless  a 
man  has  been  in  some  such  high  moods  as  these  he  cannot  read 
the  New  Testament  :  he  does  but  babble  its  alphabet,  he  does  not 
articulate  tunefully  and  in  all  the  pathos  of  its  music  the  inner 
eloquence  of  heaven. 

They  came  down  from  the  mountain  :  they  were  not  made  to 
live  high  up  in  the  air  or  to  pine  in  solitary  places.  We  must  not 
always  be  in  the  formal  church.  One  day  in  seven,  then  down 
again  !  But,  in  going  down,  always  take  the  mountain  with  you. 
It  is  possible  to  take  the  mountain  home — for  what  other  purpose 
have  we  our  vacations,  holidays,  times  of  change  and  rest  ?  Do 
we  leave  the  Alps  out  yonder,  or  do  we  bring  them  to  the  towns 
and  live  upon  them  all  the  year,  till  the  next  time  comes  for  the 
seventh  day  of  metamorphosis  and  revelation  and  up-looking  ?  If 
persons  can  go  to  Alpine  lands  and  traverse  Alpine  heights  and 
come  back  without  bringing  the  Alps  with  them,  what  wonder  if 
they  can  read  the  New  Testament  through  without  its  touching 
their  hearts  ?  Bring  the  sea  home  with  you,  and  the  great  moun- 
tain and  the  cooling  snow,  and  the  bracing  air  and  the  blue  heaven, 
and  the  singing  birds  and  the  summers  of  various  lands,  and  these 
will  be  the  very  roots  and  sources  of  sustenance  during  the  whole 
period  of  service  and  suffering  and  divers  ministries.  Take  the 
church  home  with  you,  carry  Sunday  all  through  the  week,  and 
you  will  find  how  wondrously  adapted  it  is  to  measure  the  whole 
span  of  the  intervening  time  between  itself  and  itself.  Never  leave 
the  church,  take  it — take  it  home  ! 

They  were  to  tell  no  man  what  they  had  seen.  We  cannot  tell 
all  we  know  :  we  have  secrets  that  make  the  heart  throb  double 
life,  and  we  should  be  poor  if  we  parted  with  them.  We  have  all 
had  experiences  of  Christ  which  we  could  not  tell,  for  no  words 
have  been  invented  for  such  experiences.  Such  looks  he  has  thrown 
upon  us,  such  warmth  he  has  communicated  to  us,  such  promises 
he  has  whispered  to  the  heart — we  have  laid  our  head  upon  his 
shoulder  and  cried  like  little  children,  and  we  have  been  stronger 
for  the  sweet  sorrow.  When  we  have  told  all  we  have  to  tell,  we 
have  not  begun  the  tale  :  we  have  secret  faiths,  secret  hopes,  secret 


CHALLENGED  BY  GREAT  PROBLEMS.  27 

delights  all  in  keeping  with  the  central  truth,  but  each  with  an 
accent  unintelligible  to  the  general  ear. 

Hard  lesson — "Tell  no  man."  Who  does  not  like  to  speak 
when  he  has  seen  great  sights  or  heard  sounds  of  unusual  music  ? 
Christ  has  here  given  the  disciples  one  of  their  first  lessons  in  the  \ 
cross.  He  has  just  told  us,  "  If  any  man  will  follow  Me,  he  must 
take  up  his  cross  daily."  In  this  injunction,  Jesus  causes  the  dis- 
ciples to  feel  the  first  pressure  of  what  will  become  a  great  weight, 
namely,  the  cross  of  crucifixion.  Learn  the  lesson  of  self-suppres- 
sion, learn  the  mystery  of  silence ;  the  wild-talking  man  never 
comes  to  any  rich  maturity  of  life.  We  must  always  know  more 
than  we  have  ever  /old :  every  author  must  be  greater  than  his 
books,  every  singer  greater  than  his  song,  every  preacher  more 
than  his  sermon.  Do  not  babble  :  think.  Keep  all  these  things 
and  ponder  them  in  your  heart — the  uses  of  all  will  be  seen 
presently.  Does  Jesus  Christ  ever  tune  the  instrument  for  the 
purpose  of  hanging  it  up  on  the  wall  ?  What  musician  would  do 
so  ?  He  tunes  it  that  he  may  discourse  eloquent  music  upon  it. 
So  when  he  grants  us  white  and  shining  revelations  of  himself  and 
his  purpose,  it  is  that  we  may  go  down  the  mountain  and  heal 
the  lunatic  that  is  raving  at  its  base. 

"  They  questioned  with  one  another  what  the  rising  from  the 
dead  should  mean. ' '  The  Lord  always  gives  us  a  problem  to  save 
us  from  intellectual  stagnation.  Read  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
find  how  oftentimes  he  challenges  the  understanding,  the  genius, 
the  intellectual  penetration  and  sagacity  of  man.  "  What  think 
ye  of  Christ?"  "  What  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?"  And  here  the  disciples  wonder 
what  the  rising  from  the  dead  should  mean.  Death  had  not  en- 
tered into  their  calculations,  death  was  an  element  which  they  had 
excluded  from  all  their  reckoning  and  thinking.  We  do  exclude 
from  our  narrow  sums  the  figures  which  would  first  contract  and 
afterwards  expand  and  glorify  them.  We  are  still  wondering  what 
the  rising  of  the  dead  shall  mean.  We  are  still  wondering  what 
our  departed  ones  are  doing — they  are  never  sick,  they  are  never 
in  pain,  they  are  never  weary — thanks  for  knowledge  so  much,  but 
I  want  to  know  more  :  are  they  ever  here?  how  much  do  they  see? 
what  do  they  know?  do  they  think  about  us,  pray  for  us,   pluck 


28  MATTHEW  XVII.  1-13. 

fruit  for  us  from  the  upper  trees,  and  convey  it  to  the  heart  by 
secret  messages  ?  Here  we  are  left  with  a  great  wonder,  walking 
up  the  mountain,  walking  down,  wonder  follows  wonder,  and  still 
we  live  a  life  of  wild  or  chastened  sorrow. 

When  he  came  down  from  the  mountain  how  did  he  use  his  ex- 
alted and  ennobled  passion  ?  Did  Jesus  Christ  contemn  the  peo- 
ple, or  did  he  neglect  them  ?  Nay,  he  rebuked  unbelief  and  he 
healed  affliction.  That  is  to  be  our  work.  After  our  mountain 
meetings  and  high  festivals  of  rapture,  our  supreme  hours  of  joy, 
let  us  go  down  the  mountain  to  reaffirm  and  to  heal. 


LXXI. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  do  this  day  join  the  Church  of  all  times  and  all 
lands,  and  praise  thy  name  because  of  thy  grace  and  thy  truth.  We  are 
part  of  a  great  Church,  the  whole  of  which  thou  alone  canst  see.  We 
have  come  to  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,  to  the  general  assembly 
and  Church  of  the  first-born,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to 
this  great  host  we  add  our  voice  that  the  hymn  of  praise  which  goes  up  to 
thee  may  thereby  be  strengthened  because  of  our  personal  thankfulness. 
Thou  hast  done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad.  If  sometimes 
we  sit  down  to  reckon  up  the  darkness,  that  do  thou  charge  to  our  faith- 
lessness and  our  meanness  of  soul.  We  ought  the  rather  to  count  the 
stars  thou  hast  set  in  the  darkness  and  to  number  the  mercies  wherewith 
thou  hast  surrounded  our  life  ;  then  should  there  be  no  end  to  the  long 
reckoning,  for  thy  tender  mercies  are  more  in  number  than  the  sands 
upon  the  sea-shore.  Give  us  the  loving  heart  that  seeks  the  blessings 
that  they  may  be  added  up  and  set  out  in  order,  and  take  away  from  us 
the  disloyal  and  despairing  spirit  that  counts  the  afflictions  and  reckons 
thee  hard  in  visitation  and  in  judgment. 

Thy  tender  mercies  are  over  all  thy  works  :  thou  dost  give  music  to 
the  wind  and  thou  dost  give  fragrance  to  the  flower,  and  thou  givest  light 
unto  every  star.  Thou  art  always  adding  to  that  which  is  good,  so  that 
there  is  no  measure  to  its  beauty  and  its  delightfulness.  Our  cup  runneth 
over  ;  for  our  right  hand  thou  hast  a  rod,  for  our  left  hand  a  staff,  and  in 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  thou  dost  find  for  us  light  and  song. 

All  this  thou  hast  done  for  us  and  in  us  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  firstborn  of 
every  creature,  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega,  the  First  and  the  Last,  the 
Beginning  and  the  End,  who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not 
robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation  and  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even 
the  death  of  the  cross.  He  is  highly  exalted  to-day,  his  name  absorbs  all 
other  names,  and  he  alone  reigns  in  infinite  and  indestructible  glory.  In 
all  things  he  hath  the  pre-eminence  :  having  submitted  to  the  lowest 
humiliation,  he  sits  now  upon  the  highest  throne,  and  if  we  suffer  with 
him,  we  shall  also  reign  with  him.  May  we  be  in  the  Saviour,  cleansed 
by  his  blood,  sanctified  by  his  spirit,  transfigured  into  his  image,  and 
animated  evermore  by  his  noble  purpose.  Thus  may  we  reveal  Christ 
day  by  day,  showing  men  what  he  is,  and  showing  the  world  that  we 
have  bread  to  eat  which  was  never  provided  by  time  or  sense. 


MATTHEW  XVII.  14-27. 


Thou  hast  promised  us  great  things.  Beyond  all  our  prayer  thine  an- 
swer rises  like  a  firmament  filled  with  lights  :  ours  the  poor  prayer,  thine 
the  infinite  reply.  Thou  hast  promised  to  search  the  earth  through  and 
through  to  find  that  which  was  lost  of  thine  image  and  likeness,  and  all 
that  sleep  in  Christ  shall  be  brought  with  him  at  the  last,  and  thou  wilt 
leave  no  grave  unopened  ;  thou  wilt  find  for  us  our  lost  ones,  and  set 
them  up  again,  a  multitude  that  no  man  can  number,  and  thy  heaven 
shall  be  filled  and  thy  guests  shall  go  out  no  more  for  ever.  By  such 
visions  dost  thou  draw  us  forward  through  the  wilderness,  by  the  music  of 
euch  promises  dost  thou  stir  us,  and  yet  soothe  us,  in  all  the  way  of  our 
life. 

Deliver  us  from  the  fascination  cast  upon  us  by  unworthy  objects, 
save  us  from  the  torment  of  slavery  to  things  that  are  mean  and  worth- 
less, and  enable  us  to  set  our  whole  love  upon  things  that  are  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  May  our  heart  be  in 
Heaven,  may  our  fellowship  be  with  the  Father  and  with  the  Son,  through 
the  eternal  Spirit.  May  a  light  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun  make  our 
way  glad,  and  voices  spoken  to  the  heart  charm  away  their  fear  and 
gloom. 

Mercifully  help  every  good  man  to  bear  his  burden  steadily.  In  thy 
great  love  do  thou  nourish  the  hearts  that  are  given  over  to  sore  trial, 
heal  with  balm  from  heaven  the  wounded  spirit,  with  thine"own  gentle 
hand  dry  the  tears  of  sorrow,  and  by  frequent  shining  from  behind  the 
cloud  do  thou  grant  unto  us  release  from  the  fear  which  its  darkness  in- 
spires. We  are  all  known  to  thee  in  every  thought  and  motive,  in  every 
purpose  and  act,  and  thou  wilt  deal  mercifully  with  us,  for  though  we  be 
rebels  and  aliens,  yet  are  we  still  thine  own  children  :  thou  didst  make  us 
and  not  we  ourselves,  and  though  we  are  self-torn  and  self-destroyed,  yet 
amid  all  the  ruin,  the  shame,  thou  dost  see  the  traces  of  thine  own  image. 

Our  hope  is  in  Christ,  our  trust  is  in  the  cross,  our  cry  is  towards  our 
Father,  and  it  will  not  be  returned  to  us  in  mockery,  but  in  great  answers 
of  pardon,  assurance,  and  peace.     Amen. 


Matthew  xvii.  14-27. 

14.  And  when  they  were  come  to  the  multitude,  there  came  to  him  a 
certain  man,  kneeling  down  to  him,  and  saying, 

15.  Lord,  have  mercy  on  my  son  :  for  he  is  lunatic,  and  sore  vexed  ; 
for  ofttimes  he  falleth  into  the  fire,  and  oft  into  the  water. 

16.  And  1  brought  him  to  thy  disciples,  and  they  could  not  cure  him. 

17.  Then  Jesus  answered  and  said,  O  faithless  and  perverse  (seduced 
or  led  astray)  generation,  how  long  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  how  long  shall  I 
suffer  you  ?  bring  him  hither  to  me. 

18.  And  Jesus  rebuked  the  devil  ;  and  he  departed  out  of  him  :  and  the 
child  was  cured  from  that  very  hour. 


DIFFERENCES   OF  NARRATION.  31 

19.  Then  came  the  disciples  to  Jesus  apart,  and  said,  Why  could  not 
we  cast  him  out  ? 

20.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Because  of  your  unbelief  :  for  verily  I 
say  unto  you,  If  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say 
unto  this  mountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place  ;  and  it  shall  remove  ; 
and  nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you. 

21.  Howbeit  this  kind  goeth  not  out  but  by  prayer  and  fasting. 

22.  And  while  they  abode  in  (went  to  and  fro)  Galilee,  Jesus  said  unto 
them,  The  Son  of  man  shall  be  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  men  : 

23.  And  they  shall  kill  him,  and  the  third  day  he  shall  be  raised  again. 
And  they  were  exceeding  sorry. 

24.  And  when  they  were  come  to  Capernaum,  they  that  received  tribute 
money  came  to  Peter,  and  saith,  Doth  not  your  master  pay  tribute  ? 

25.  He  saith,  Yes.  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  house,  Jesus  pre- 
vented him,  saying,  What  thinkest  thou,  Simon  ?  of  whom  do  the  kings 
of  the  earth  take  custom  (duties  on  goods)  or  tribute  (poll-tax,  Acts  v.  37)  ? 
of  their  own  children,  or  of  strangers  ?  (To  the  Jews  direct  taxation  was 
hateful,  as  a  sign  of  subjugation.) 

26.  Peter  saith  unto  him,  Of  strangers.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Then 
are  the  children  free. 

27.  Notwithstanding,  lest  we  should  offend  them,  go  thou  to  the  sea, 
and  cast  an  hook,  and  take  up  the  fish  that  first  cometh  up  ;  and  when 
thou  hast  opened  his  mouth,  thou  shalt  find  a  piece  of  money  (a  stater)  : 
that  take,  and  give  unto  them  for  me  and  thee. 

TRANSFIGURATION  COMPLETED  BY  BENE- 
FICENCE. 

WE  have  read  the  story  of  the  lunatic  son  in  the  three 
Gospels.  The  differences  of  narration  are  notable.  It 
would  seem  impossible  for  any  three  men  to  tell  the  same  story  in 
the  same  way,  even  where  the  facts  are  so  striking  and  tragical  as 
in  the  instance  now  before  us.  Mark  is  the  most  observant  of  the 
writers  :  always  in  Mark's  statements  there  is  most  of  indication, 
colour,  and  record  of  movement  ;  Mark  takes  notice  of  attitudes, 
looks,  tones  of  the  voice,  and  in  this  instance  he  has  recorded  for 
us  some  of  the  most  pathetic  and  touching  incidents  in  the  whole 
case.  It  was  Mark  who  saw  the  tears  in  the  man' s  eyes  :  it  was 
Mark  who  overheard  the  great  prayer,  "  Lord,  I  believe,  help 
thou  mine  unbelief ;"  and  it  was  Mark  who  observed  all  the  con- 
tortions and  paroxysms  of  the  young  man  immediately  before  the 
devil  was  ordered  to  quit  him.  It  was  Mark  who  saw  two  miracles 
in  one — the  man  from  whom  the  spirit  had  been  cast  out  was  as 


MATTHEW  XVII.  14-27. 


one  dead,  insomuch  that  many  said,  "  He  is  dead,"  but  Jesus 
took  him  by  the  hand  and  lifted  him,  and  he  arose,  and  thus  per- 
formed two  miracles  upon  the  sufferer.  Let  us  look  at  the  inci- 
dent as  related  by  Matthew. 

"  And  when  they  were  come  to  the  multitude,  there  came  to 
him  a  certain  man,  kneeling  down  to  him."  They  had  come 
from  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  :  one  would  have  thought  that 
after  that  metamorphosis  and  that  marvellous  interview  with  Moses 
and  Elias,  that  nothing  of  an  ordinary  or  commonplace  kind 
would  ever  have  taken  place  in  the  lives  of  Jesus  Christ  or  the 
three  disciples  who  accompanied  him  to  the  great  and  solemn 
height.  Yet  you  cannot  escape  commonplace  :  Monday  will 
thrust  itself  sharply  upon  the  heels  of  Sunday — already  on  the 
Sabbath  eventide  you  may  hear  the  throb  of  the  machine  getting 
ready  for  the  week's  work  ;  and,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  this  cure 
of  afflicted  persons,  this  long  succession  of  miracles,  had  become 
almost  a  commonplace  in  the  Saviour's  life.  We  have  been  so 
accustomed  to  his  healing,  releasing  or  expelling  devils,  straighten- 
ing those  who  were  burdened,  and  lifting  up  those  who  were  cast 
down,  that  we  seem  as  if  out  of  our  element  if  not  reading  an  ac- 
count of  a  miracle  or  beholding  some  marvellous  token  of  power. 
When  Jesus  came  down  from  the  mountain,  one  would  have 
thought  that  the  whole  subject  would  have  been  what  had  been 
seen  on  the  great  height ;  yet,  as  he  came  down  the  hill,  he  spe- 
cially covenanted  with  his  disciples  that  they  should  say  nothing 
about  it.  The  vision  was  not  to  be  told  to  any  man  ;  all  four  of 
them  were  to  come  back  again  to  their  work  as  if  nothing  had 
happened.  The  heart  has  a  secret  history  ;  man  lives  a  double 
life.  There  are  dreams  we  cannot  tell,  visions  and  flamings  in  the 
night-darkness  about  which  we  can  say  nothing  that  is  coherent — 
which  we  cannot  put  into  public  language,  for  it  would  not  be 
understood,  when  called  upon  to  relate  such  strange  experience. 
So  they  come  back  to  the  multitude  to  take  up  the  thread  where 
they  dropped  it. 

You  cannot  approach  a  multitude  without  finding  afflictions. 
A  solemn  and  instructive  circumstance  is  that.  When  did  any 
multitude  gather  that  was  not  afflicted  in  some  of  its  members  or 


AFFLICTIONS  IN  EVERY  MULTITUDE.  33 

afflicted  as  a  whole  ?  Wherever  we  go  we  carry  affliction  with  us  ; 
sometimes  it  is  borne  silently  ;  most  of  us  have  some  secret  or 
unspeakable  pain — every  heart  knows  the  bite  of  its  own  hunger. 
The  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,  and  a  stranger  intermed- 
dleth  not  with  its  joy.  But  for  such  circumstances  Jesus  Christ 
need  not  have  come  to  the  multitude.  He  never  went  to  the 
multitude  to  join  its  mere  feasting  or  hilarity,  to  unite  his  voice 
in  its  rude  song  of  momentary  delight.  Whenever  Jesus  Christ 
approached  a  multitude  it  was  to  do  the  very  thing  which  he  did 
in  this  instance — to  heal  its  lunacy,  to  soothe  its  pain,  to  comfort 
its  unutterable  distress.  He  had  no  other  mission  on  earth. 
Take  away  the  sin  and  the  consequent  sorrow  of  mankind  and 
Jesus  Christ  would  have  no  place  in  human  history.  He  was 
born  to  save,  he  came  to  heal.  When  our  sins  and  our  sorrows 
are  removed  from  our  history,  then  Jesus  Christ  as  an  incarnate 
Son  of  God  will  sustain  no  further  relation  to  it.  The  end  will 
come,  when  he  will  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to  God  and  his 
Father,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 

The  man  had  a  peculiar  speech  to  make  to  Jesus  :  his  earnest- 
ness made  him  frank.  He  did  not  seek  to  flatter  the  disciples  or 
to  excuse  them,  but  plainly  he  says,  "  I  brought  him  to  thy  dis- 
ciples and  they  could  not  cure  him."  A  charge  which  is  brought 
against  the  church  to-day.  May  I  add  that  it  is  a  charge  which  is 
often  but  too  just  ?  The  world  is  a  lunatic  at  the  door  of  the 
church  to-day,  and  the  church  seems  to  care  next  to  nothing  for 
the  sufferer  and  to  have  no  power  over  the  deadly  affliction.  The 
church  has  its  incantations,  its  old  outworn  forms  of  expression, 
its  decayed  machinery,  and  its  effete  institutionalism,  but  the 
miracle-working  power,  the  divine  inspiration,  the  sovereignty  over- 
all hindrances  and  stumbling-blocks,  alas  !  where  have  these  fled  ? 
What  is  the  church  worth  if  it  cannot  cure  the  lunacy  of  the 
world  ?  The  church,  like  its  Master,  has  nothing  to  do  in  the- 
world  unless  it  be  to  heal  and  to  bless  and  to  save  mankind.  The 
church  was  not  instituted  to  amuse  the  world,  but  to  save  it, 
not  to  mock  the  world  by  speaking  to  it  a  pointless  and' 
useless  speech,  but  to  redeem  the  world  through  Jesus  Christ  the 
Lord. 

Discipleship  is  not  enough,    for  it  may  be  merely  nominal. 
Outward  ceremonies  and  institutional  relationships  are  not  enough. 


34  MATTHEW  XVII.  14-27. 

— these  may  be  but  external  and  momentary  and  factitious.  Dis- 
cipleship  of  the  heart  alone  can  do  any  good.  The  inflamed  and 
inspired  heart  cannot  speak  words  of  weakness  ;  let  that  heart 
utter  itself,  and  in  its  tone  there  will  be  the  music  of  a  subtle  sym- 
pathy, and  the  world  will  be  the  better  for  its  illumining  and  com- 
forting speech.  How  is  it  with  our  hearts  ?  Our  heads  are  clever 
enough  and  clear  enough,  and  may  be  sufficiently  stored  with  a 
certain  kind  of  information,  but  what  about  the  heart,  its  sym- 
pathy, its  insight,  its  moral  intuition,  its  redeeming  desires,  its 
unity,  almost  identity,  with  the  Son  of  God  ? 

Jesus  rebuked  the  generation  around  him,  and  specially  accent- 
uated his  rebuke  when  he  looked  at  his  disciples,  but  he  himself 
was  not  disturbed  about  the  case.  It  might  have  excited  his  anxi- 
eties ;  it  would  certainly  have  troubled  an  impostor.  With  a  sin- 
gular confirmation  of  his  own  truthfulness,  he  begins  by  pouring 
almost  contempt,  certainly  stern  rebuke,  upon  those  who  had 
failed  in  the  great  encounter.  "  O  faithless  and  perverse  genera- 
tion, how  long  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  how  long  shall  I  suffer  you  ?" 
That  was  not  the  introduction  which  a  man  would  have  adopted 
who  had  any  doubt  about  the  sovereignty  and  completeness  of  his 
own  resources.  Woe  unto  us,  when  our  rebukes  of  others  are 
greater  than  the  redemptive  power  that  is  in  our  own  hearts.  He 
is  not  the  saviour  of  his  age  who  can  but  curse  it.  It  may  be  in 
eloquent  denunciation  the  prophet  may  pour  his  maledictions 
upon  his  time,  but  unless  he  can  follow  his  malediction  by  bene- 
ficent action  on  his  own  part,  he  is  but  a  Balaam,  self-inspired, 
and  his  curse  may  possibly  return  to  his  own  head. 

What  did  Jesus  Christ  say,  after  rebuking  the  faithlessness  and 
perverseness  of  the  generation?  He  said,  "Bring  him  hitherto 
me."  Mark  the  noble  majesty,  the  simple  ease,  the  absolute  con- 
sciousness of  adequate  power.  "  Bring  him  hither  to  me."  He 
had  been  upon  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  but  that  gave  him 
no  access  of  power  ;  he  was  the  same  before  he  ascended  the  hill. 
He  had  seen  Moses  and  Elias,  and  conversed  with  them  about  the 
decease  that  was  to  be  accomplished  at  Jerusalem,  but  long  before 
that  there  was  Resurrection  in  the  hem  of-  his  garment,  and  heaven 
in  the  utterance  of  his  benediction. 

"  Bring  him  hither  to  me."  The  case  is  a  difficult  one  ; 
".bring  him  hither   to   me."      Others   have   tried    and  failed; 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  UNBELIEF.  35 

"  bring  him  hither  to  me."  The  church  has  done  its  little  ut- 
most, and  the  church  stands  with  hands  helplessly  hung  by  its  side 
— "bring  him  hither  tome."  So  would  we  have  all  church 
difficulties  settled.  When  men  complain  of  the  inefficiency  of  the 
church,  the  uselessness  of  the  ministry,  the  want  of  power  in  Chris- 
tian institutions,  we  will  not  close  the  argument  upon  grounds  so 
narrow  ;  we  add,  "  You  have  still  to  see  the  Master  ;  you  must 
wait  until  he  comes  down  from  the  mountain  height.  After  you 
have  seen  him  you  shall  form  a  complete  verdict  upon  the  case, 
but  not  until  you  have  had  an  interview  with  Christ  himself  must 
you  consider  yourself  in  a  position  to  adjudge  the  merits  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  he  alone  can  represent  it." 

Judge  everything  by  Christ's  speech.  Condemn  the  church  if 
you  please,  and  your  condemnation  may  be  generally  just,  but  do 
not  let  the  condemnation  of  the  church  include  one  word  of 
criticism  concerning  its  Head  and  Lord.  You  cannot  be  so  dis- 
appointed with  the  church  as  Christ  himself  was.  It  is  not  in 
your  power  to  form  an  indictment  against  the  church  so  com- 
plete, so  incisive,  so  withering  as  that  which  Jesus  Christ  himself 
framed  and  launched  in  language  of  fire.  He  is  more  grieved, 
than  we  can  be  over  the  failures  of  the  church  ;  still  he  stands 
there  with  undiminished  light,  with  undiminished  grace,  still  will- 
ing to  make  up  the  church's  deficiencies  and  to  set  up  his  per- 
sonal claim  to  the  sovereignty  of  all  hearts. 

There  was  one  spirit  which  Jesus  Christ  himself  could  not  cast 
out.  As  for  this  devil,  he  ordered  it  out  of  the  young  sufferer — 
"  Come  out  of  him,"  said  he,  "and  enter  no  more  into  him," 
and  the  devil,  after  a  last  paroxysm,  came  out.  There  was,  how- 
ever, a  spirit  which  Jesus  Christ  himself  could  not  so  expel. 
What  was  it  that  defied  Omnipotence  itself  ?  It  was  Unbelief,  the 
spirit  of  unfaith,  the  spirit  that  says,  "  Do  not  go  in  that  direction 
or  trust  that  word  or  risk  that  adventure  ;  keep  within  your  own 
strength,  make  provision  for  yourself,  and  do  not  trust  the  Divine 
word.  Always  keep  hold  of  the  world  with  one  hand  whilst  you 
try  to  lay  hold  of  heaven  with  the  other.  That  is  the  spirit  of  un- 
belief, and  Jesus  Christ  himself  could  not  expel  the  spirit  from  the 
human  heart.  Hence  he  said  to  the  suffering  parent,  "  If  thou 
canst  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth. "  Even 
we  have  to  provide  something  upon  which  the  Son  of  God  can 


36  MATTHEW  XVII.  14-27. 

operate.  Miracles  have  to  be  done  by  consent  when  they  touch  the 
moral  region. 

How  is  it  that  ye  have  no  faith  ?  What  is  faith  ?  It  is  the 
sixth  sense  ;  it  is  the  unnameable  and  immeasurable  power  of  the 
human  heart ;  it  is  that  peculiar  faculty  which  sees  God  and  lays 
hold  of  him,  and  magnifies  the  part  into  the  whole,  and  rests  with 
absoluteness  of  trust  upon  the  almightiness  and  the  equity  and 
love  of  God.  You  cannot  define  faith  in  adequate  words.  All 
that  is  in  our  power  is  but  thus  to  hint  at  it  dimly.  The  soul 
which  has  felt  its  sovereignty,  and  has  been  borne  on  under  its 
benign  and  elevating  influence,  can  understand  in  speechlessness 
the  Divine  faculty,  and  can  perform  the  marvellous  function. 

So,  then,  Jesus  Christ  is  baffled  sometimes.  He  can  walk  upon 
the  sea,  or  raise  the  dead,  or  cast  out  devils,  but  when  he  comes 
against  the  unbelieving  heart,  when  he  encounters  the  spirit  of  un- 
faith,  which  is  the  spirit  of  self-trust,  he  cannot  do  any  mighty 
works  there.  We  must,  then,  begin  by  repairing,  so  to  say,  our 
faith,  if  we  would  have  deeper  fellowship  with  heaven,  larger  and 
richer  manifestations  of  Divine  grace  and  bestowals  of  Divine 
power.  The  wound  is  not  in  our  intelligence,  it  is  in  our  faith  ; 
the  fatal  stab  has  not  been  inflicted  upon  our  Genius,  but  upon 
our  Belief. 

Surely  this  man  prayed  for  us  all  when  he  said,  '•'  Lord,  I  be- 
lieve ;  help  thou  mine  unbelief.  I  bring  a  little  faith — all  I 
have  ;  I  gather  up  my  heart  into  one  strain  of  faith,  but  so  much 
is  lacking — help  thou  mine  unbelief  ;  make  up  what  is  lacking, 
complete  what  is  deficient,  and  thus  let  the  miracle  begin  in  me 
and  pass  on  to  my  child. ' '  Why  should  the  church  be  raising 
false  issues  and  following  false  scents  altogether,  by  supposing 
that  the  wound  is  in  its  intelligence,  its  literature,  its  genius,  its 
intellectual  department  ?  whereas  the  church  probably  never  was 
stronger  in  intellect  or  richer  in  literary  resources  than  she  is  to- 
day. It  is  her  faith  that  requires  renewal,  replenishment,  enlarge- 
ment. I  know  not  of  any  nobler,  sweeter  prayer,  punctuated  with 
sobs  and  tears,  than  this  cry,  "  Help  thou  mine  unbelief  !" 

Yet  the  disciples  had  this  redeeming  fact  on  their  side.  They 
were  troubled  about  their  own  failure  ;  they  asked  a  frank  question 
about  their  inability  to  cast  out  the  devil.      "  Then  came  the  dis- 


EARNEST  INQUIRIES.  37 

ciples  to  Jesus  apart,  and  said,  "Why  could  not  we  cast  him  out?" 
They  will  do  better  things  some  day  ;  men  who  can  thus  freely 
talk  about  their  own  failures  will  not  fail  in  the  long  run.  Given 
a  number  of  men  who  fail  and  never  inquire  about  the  failure,  that 
is  to  say,  never  search  into  its  reason,  and  such  men  will  never  do 
anything  great  or  lasting  in  the  world  ;  but,  given  people  in  any 
department  or  relation  of  life  who  diligently  and  searchingly  ask 
themselves,  "  Why  did  we  fail — how  is  it  that  we  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  this  instance  ?"  and,  whatever  the  occasion  be  which 
elicits  that  inquirv,  success  must  of  necessity  follow  such  inquests 
into  inability  and  failure.  Men  in  business  should  ask  themselves 
once  a  week  or  once  a  month,  "  How  is  it  that  we  have  not  suc- 
ceeded ?' '  Students  and  learners  of  all  kinds  should  ask  them- 
selves, "Hew  is  it  that  we  have  not  mastered  this  difficulty?" 
Churches  looking  out  from  their  windows  upon  the  world's  dis- 
tress and  madness  should  ask  themselves,  penetratingly  and  with  a 
sense  of  humiliation,  which  is  itself  the  beginning  of  strength, 
"  How  is  it  that  to-day  the  world's  lunacy  is  as  grievous  as  it  ever 
was  ?  Why  those  multitudes  outside  ?  why  this  blasphemy  in  the 
sacred  air  of  the  Sabbath  ?  why  this  contempt  of  religious  institu- 
tions ?  why  the  laugh  of  mockery  as  the  multitudes  pass  the 
church  ?' ' 

When  Ave  set  ourselves  to  such  earnest  inquiries,  Christ  will  tell 
us  how  it  is  that  we  have  not  succeeded.  It  will  be  the  beginning 
of  better  days  for  us  when  from  the  first  line  to  the  last  we  go  in 
searching  critical  inquest  through  our  whole  ministry  and  mission 
in  the  world,  asking  hew  it  is  that  we  have  not  succeeded.  Do 
not  cover  up  the  case.  Seek  not  to  wrap  it  up  or  throw  it  behind 
and  become  indifferent  about  it,  but  stand  over  your  failures,  ac- 
knowledge them,  blame  yourself  for  them,  and  ask  the  heart  and 
ask  the  Master  this  searching  question,  "  Why  have  we  failed  ?" 

Mark  now  points  out  that  Jesus  Christ  went  through  Galilee, 
and  he  would  not  that  any  man  should  know  it.  He  was,  as  it 
were,  skulking  through  to  the  end.  In  his  own  land  he  was  pass- 
ing as  one  who  was  afraid  of  being  identified  ;  it  was  as  if  he  had 
walked  out  in  the  night-time,  and  studied  a  map  of  the  place,  and 
found  out  the  mountain  paths  and  the  untrodden  ways  that  he 
might  get  to  the  end. 


38  MATTHEW  XVII.  14-27. 

Now  that  the  miracle  is  performed,  he  returns  to  the  great  sub- 
ject of  converse  on  the  mount.  "While  they  abode  in  Galilee, 
Jesus  said  unto  them,  The  Son  of  man  shall  be  betrayed  into  the 
hands  of  men,  and  they  shall  kill  him,  and  the  third  day  he  shall 
be  raised  again  ;  and  they  were  exceeding  sorry."  Instead  of  say- 
ing, "Ye  shall  deliver  him,"  he  said,  "  He  shall  be  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  men,"  for  it  was  God  that  delivered  him,  not 
man  :  Jesus  was  not  murdered,  he  was  offered  as  a  lamb.  Mur- 
der may  be  charged  upon  those  who  laid  bloody  hands  upon  him, 
but  in  the  larger  view  this  was  the  Divine  doing,  and  the  fulfil- 
ment with  in  the  limits  of  time  of  the  sovereign  purpose  of  eternity. 
The  disciples  heard  only  the  first  part  of  the  speech — "  The  Son 
of  man  shall  be  betrayed,  and  they  shall  kill  him."  We  seldom 
hear  any  sentence  quite  through  :  men  are  bad  listeners,  they  catch 
what  they  imagine  to  be  the  leading  words,  and  on  those  they  rest 
and  from  those  they  draw  all  their  inferences,  and  so  absorbed  do 
they  become  in  parts  of  the  introductory  speech  that  they  do  not 
hear  its  final  close.  Otherwise  when  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  On  the 
third  day  he  shall  be  raised  again,"  they  would  have  been  as  men 
who  beheld  a  harvest  field  clothed  with  golden  wheat,  waving  its 
head  gently  and  as  it  were  gratefully  under  the  breezes  and  under 
the  great  light  of  noonday.  Instead  of  seeing  the  end,  they  saw 
only  the  beginning  :  they  heard  the  bad  news,  or  what  to  them 
was  bad  news,  and  they  listened  no  longer.  It  is  possible  to  listen 
to  the  gospel  and  not  to  hear  it  :  it  is  possible  to  listen  to  the 
reading  of  the  Divine  word  and  to  miss  the  one  verse  that  casts 
light  upon  the  whole  story.  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear  let  him 
hear. 

I  include  in  my  exposition  to-day  the  passage  concerning  the 
payment  of  tribute  money,  just  to  show  the  violent  transitions 
through  which  this  wondrous  life  passed.  Here  we  have  a  man 
performing  a  miracle  which  the  disciples  left  unperformed  :  here 
we  have  him  forecasting  his  death  and  preaching  the  great  fact  and 
doctrine  of  his  resurrection,  and  then  we  have  him  vexed  and 
humiliated  by  some  question  of  personal  taxation.  How  com- 
pletely did  he  fulfil  every  function  of  life  !  with  what  attention  he 
attended  to  the  details  of  every  day's  engagements  :  nothing  hur- 
ried, nothing  overdriven,  nothing  neglected,  no  fragments  lost. 
Why,  when  he  comes  to  leave  the  tomb,   we  may  not  have  to 


PRINCIPLE   OF  CONDUCT.  39 

wonder  if  we  find  the  linen  clothes  wrapped  and  laid  away  by  a 
patient  hand.  If  we  so  find  the  grave-clothes,  it  will  be  of  a  piece 
with  all  the  attention  to  details  which  has  been  disclosed  in  this 
marvellous  life. 

The  Man  has  received  the  death-shock  :  he  is  straitened  until  the 
baptism  of  blood  be  accomplished  :  his  soul  is  in  great  suffering, 
and  yet  he  is  challenged  about  the  tribute  money,  and  attends  to  it 
as  if  it  were  his  whole  business.  Nor  does  he  chide  Peter  too 
sternly.  Peter  had  committed  the  Master  :  being  asked  aside 
whether  the  Master  paid  tribute  money,  he  rashly  answered 
"  Yes."  He  often  gave  foolish  replies,  and  in  this  instance  he 
committed  the  Master  ;  but  the  Master  would  not  commit  the 
servant.  He  did  not  contradict  him  ;  he  took  the  case  up  as 
Peter  himself  had  placed  it  :  though  he  compelled  him  to  acknowl- 
edge that  he  was  historically  and  argumentatively  wrong,  yet  he 
would  not  place  him  in  a  dilemma.  Things  were  now  getting 
serious — he  gave  Peter  a  lesson  about  the  payment  of  the  tribute 
money  when  his  soul  was  getting  exceeding  sorrowful  even  unto 
death.  So  he  told  Peter  what  to  do,  where  to  find  the  money, 
and  he  laid  down  as  the  principle  of  his  conduct,  "  lest  we  offend 
them."  Give  no  needless  offence;  do  not  go  out  of  your  way 
to  vex  and  harass  people.  If  some  great  moral  principle  be  not 
involved,  then  take  you  the  course  of  conciliation,  and  be  anxious 
always  to  do  that  which  is  courteous  and  graceful.  If  a  great 
moral  principle  be  involved,  then  go  to  the  cross  rather  than  sur- 
render it ;  but  if  there  be  no  such  principle  involved,  then  put 
yourselves  to  a  good  deal  of  trouble  not  to  give  unnecessary  offence 
and  inflict  needless  vexation. 

The  picture  suffers  nothing  from  being  looked  at  in  its  extreme 
lights.  The  great  miracle,  the  greater  sacrifice,  and  the  little  ques- 
tion of  tribute  money — that  is  human  life  to-day  in  the  Church  : 
praying,  crying  to  heaven,  lifting  up  great  psalms  to  heaven,  and 
to-morrow  opening  the  door,  lighting  the  lamp,  cleaning  the  win- 
dow, writing  the  letter,  and  doing  earth's  little  business  with  dili- 
gence and  faithfulness.  The  Master  did  all  this,  and  to  all  this  we 
are  called.  If  we  settle  the  question  of  the  tribute  money,  and  all 
other  little  questions  of  detail  in  the  spirit  of  the  great  Sacrifice, 
then  our  little  actions  will  be  great,  and  about  our  meanest  doings 
there  will  be  something  of  the  sacredness  and  the  dignity  of  Christ's 
sacrifice. 


LXXII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  have  come  at  the  appointed  time  to  the  appointed 
place,  and  we  know  that  thou  wilt  be  more  gracious  to  hear  than  we  can 
be  expressive  in  prayer  ;  thine  answer  is  greater  than  our  request,  as  thy 
grace  is  greater  than  our  sin.  Thou  art  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly 
above  all  that  we  ask  or  think  :  as  the  heaven  is  high  above  the  earth,  so 
is  thy  thought  high  above  our  thought.  In  thy  presence  we  see  our  little- 
ness, and  before  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  we  see  our  poverty  ; 
but  those  riches  were  gathered  for  us — he  who  was  rich  for  our  sakes  be- 
came poor,  that  we  through  his  poverty  might  become  rich.  Through 
death  we  have  life,  through  blood  we  have  cleansing  and  forgiveness, 
yea,  thou  hast  made  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  thee,  and  out  of  evil  hast 
thou  brought  infinite  good. 

Behold,  thou  dost  work  by  thine  own  way,  and  none  can  search  thee  : 
we  cannot  find  thee  out  unto  perfection,  nor  can  we  understand  the  mind 
of  the  Lord  and  express  it  in  words  of  men.  We  will  therefore  trust 
thee,  resting  in  thee  with  unquestioning  love,  casting  all  our  care,  as  we 
have  cast  all  our  sin,  upon  him  who  is  mighty  to  save.  We  will  not  ques- 
tion thee,  nor  set  up  our  reason  against  thee,  nor  endeavor  to  clear  away 
the  cloud  by  our  own  feeble  breath.  Whilst  we  are  in  the  cloud  do  thou 
speak  to  us,  and  thy  voice  shall  give  us  security  and  joy. 

Through  all  the  week  thou  hast  kept  us  ;  thou  hast  beset  us  behind  and 
before,  and  laid  thine  hand  upon  us.  Thou  hast  measured  out  unto  us 
our  food,  and  thou  hast  kept  for  us  a  place  of  rest,  and  thou  hast  not 
withheld  the  blessing  of  sleep.  The  light  has  been  the  brighter  for  thy 
presence,  and  the  darkness  has  rested  upon  us,  not  as  a  fear,  but  as  a 
benediction,  because  of  thy  tender  care.  Gathered  together  in  thine 
house  our  hearts  glow  with  ardent  love,  and  our  mouth  is  opened  in 
sweet  and  holy  hymn,  which  we  breathe  unto  the  heavens  because  we 
must  praise  the  hand  from  which  our  blessings  come. 

As  for  our  sin,  it  is  our  daily  distress  ;  we  loathe  it  and  repeat  it ;  we 
pray  for  its  forgiveness  and  then  commit  it  again.  Yet  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  thy  Son  cleanseth  from  all  sin.  If  our  daily  sin  be  upon  us,  so  is 
the  daily  sacrifice  near  at  hand — the  eternal  cross,  the  tree  of  life,  the 
way  to  pardon.  "  God  forbid  that  we  should  gjory  save  in  the  cross  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  We  would  be  crucified  with  Christ — we  would 
know  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings  that  we  may  also  know  the  power  of 
his  resurrection.     We  would  be  fellow-sufferers  with  Christ,  he  atoning, 


PRAYER.  41 

we  repenting  :  he  the  one  propitiation,  and  we  the  receivers  of  the  atone- 
ment which  he  made.  Grant  unto  us  sweet  answers  to  this  our  prayer, 
then  shall  all  other  prayers  be  answered  in  this  infinite  reply,  "  He  that 
spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  freely  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall 
he  not  with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things  ?"  Grant  us  this  unity  with 
Christ,  this  identity  with  the  Son  of  God,  this  tender,  gracious,  growing 
oneness  with  the  very  heart  of  thy  grace  ;  then  shall  all  our  life  be 
within  the  ministry  of  thy  care,  and  we  shall  lack  no  good  thing. 

We  put  our  life  into  thine  hands  :  it  was  thine  before  it  was  ours,  it 
will  be  thine  again.  We  brought  nothing  into  this  world,  and  it  is  cer- 
tain we  can  carry  nothing  out.  Our  days  are  swifter  than  a  post  ;  yea, 
swifter  than  a  weaver's  shuttle  ;  yea,  swifter  than  a  flying  shadow,  and 
there  is  none  that  abideth.  Help  us  whilst  it  is  called  to-day  to  call  upon 
thee  with  our  whole  heart  and  to  serve  thee  with  our  whole  strength. 

We  have  come  to  bless  thee  for  blessings  at  home  :  for  the  care  of  the 
little  ones,  for  all  the  light  that  has  made  the  house  glad,  for  all  the  suc- 
cess with  which  thou  hast  blessed  the  week.  Hear  us  when  we  praise 
thee  for  special  revelations  of  thy  grace — for  close  and  tender  presences 
of  thyself  amid  distraction  and  darkness  and  manifold  vexation.  Keep 
our  hearts  and  minds  in  the  love  of  Christ,  save  us  from  all  bitterness  of 
feeling,  spare  us  from  the  distress  of  wrath,  clamour,  and  uncharitable- 
ness,  help  us  to  forgive  our  enemies  as  we  ourselves  are  forgiven  of  God. 
May  we  live  the  noble  life  and  breathe  the  ever-enlarging  prayer,  and 
realize  the  ever-gracious  blessing  of  our  Father's  presence.     Amen. 

Matthew  xviii.  1-14. 

1.  At  the  same  time  came  the  disciples  unto  Jesus,  saying,  Who  is  the 
greatest  (superior)  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? 

2.  And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  (probably  one  of  Peter's)  unto  him, 
and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them. 

3.  And  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  be- 
come as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

4.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child,  the 
same  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

5.  And  whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  (on  account  of )  my 
name  receiveth  me. 

6.  But  whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in  me, 
it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea. 

7.  Woe  (an  interjection  of  sorrow)  unto  the  world  because  of  offences  ! 
for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom 
the  offence  cometh  ! 

8.  Wherefore  if  thy  hand  or  thy  foot  offend  thee  (cause  thee  to  sin)  cut 
them  off,  and  cast  them  from  thee  :  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life 


42  MATTHEW  XVIII.  1-14. 

halt  or  maimed,  rather  than  having  two  hands  or  two  feet  to  be  cast  into 
everlasting  fire. 

9.  And  if  thine  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee  :  it 
is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  with  one  eye,  rather  than  having  two 
eyes  to  be  cast  into  hell  fire. 

10.  Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones  ;  for  I  say 
unto  you,  That  in  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

11.  For  the  Son  of  man  is  come  to  save  that  which  was  lost. 

12.  How  think  ye  ?  If  a  man  have  an  hundred  sheep,  and  one  of  them 
be  gone  astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine,  and  goeth  into  the 
mountains,  and  seeketh  that  which  is  gone  astray  ? 

13.  And  if  so  be  that  he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejoiceth  more 
of  (over)  that  sheep,  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine  which  went  not  astray. 

14.  Even  so  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that 
one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish. 


GREATNESS  IN  THE  KINGDOM. 

AT  the  same  time  came  the  disciples  unto  Jesus,  saying,  Who 
is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven?"  So  blatantly 
can  we  debase  the  sublimest  subjects  !  See  how  they  put  their 
words  together,  and  learn  from  the  wild  incoherence  how  possible 
it  is  for  us  to  commit  the  same  impious  ironies.  "  Who  is  the 
greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?' '  as  if  there  could  be  any 
greatness  there  of  our  making,  as  if  our  stature  could  outshoulder 
the  great  dignities,  as  if  we  could  be  somebody  in  the  infinite  king- 
dom of  light  and  purity  and  grace.  These  men  were  not  struck 
by  the  grandeur  of  the  idea  of  the  heavenly  kingdom,  they  were 
plagued  with  the  vexatious  question  as  to  which  of  them  should 
cut  a  figure  in  it ! 

Is  it  not  so  now,  to  some  extent  ?  Are  we  overwhelmed  by  the 
occasion,  or  do  we  lift  our  heads  above  it  and  wave  our  hand  over 
it  as  if  we  were  bigger  after  all  ?  In  the  church,  for  instance,  in 
holy  psalm,  in  tender  prayer,  in  the  reading  of  the  revealed  word, 
how  do  we  deport  ourselves  ?  Do  we  shrink  away  into  an  all  but 
invisible  perspective,  being  nothing  when  such  light  shines  and 
such  music  thrills  the  air,  or  do  we  come  forward  in  bold,  plain  self- 
assertiveness  ?  The  subject — when  that  subject  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven — should  always  be  greater  than  the  men  who  approach  its 
consideration.     In  that  sense  the  altar  should  be  greater  than  the 


TRUE  GREATNESS.  43 

suppliant ;  for  the  altar  stands  for  God  and  the  suppliant  but  a 
piping,  whining  sinner  that  may  hardly  let  his  voice  be  heard  lest 
his  very  prayer  should  become  an  impiety  and  his  intercession 
aggravate  the  guilt  which  he  deplores. 

One  would  have  thought  that  men  having  had  given  to  them 
the  phrase,  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  would  have  been  so  dazzled 
by  its  glory  and  so  impressed  by  its  tender  graciousness,  that  they 
would  never  have  thought  of  themselves  at  all,  and  especially  never 
have  thought  of  their  gradation,  or  their  status  within  its  infinite 
circumference.  I  tell  you  we  all  have  learned  the  wicked  trick  of 
spoiling  everything  God  gives  to  us  !  We  would  pollute  the  stars 
if  we  could  clutch  them.  We  have  spoiled  the  earth,  ripped  it  up 
into  millions  of  graves,  and  made  it  an  Aceldama,  and  if  we  could 
only  get  at  the  stars  we  should  disfigure  and  mar  their  symmetry 
and  music. 

Yet  how  keen  we  are  in  blaming  the  ancients  for  all  these 
things.  We  sing  about  the  wicked  Jews,  and  relieve  ourselves  by 
historical  psalmody.  We  reproach  the  past,  not  knowing  that  we 
ourselves  crucified  the  Lord  of  Glory,  we  made  the  cross,  stretched 
the  sufferer  upon  it,  drove  the  nails,  and  crushed  the  thorns  into 
the  throbbing  temples.  Do  not  let  us  put  away  such  events  as  if 
they  were  historical  only  ;  that  is  a  subtle  device  of  the  enemy. 
Men  write  books  now  against  Christ  or  against  the  Christian 
theology,  and  they  only  succeed  in  so  far  as  they  can  dig  a  great 
historical  chasm  between  the  facts  and  the  critics.  My  Christ  is 
crucified  to-day  :  there  is  no  space  of  time  between  me  and  him. 
If  I  could  scatter  eighteen  centuries  between  us  I  should  gain  so 
much  relief  from  self-torment.  But  he  is  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  for  ever,  and  whilst  we  are  in  this  world  we  must  be 
partakers  of  its  greatest  tragedy.  We  cannot  separate  between  the 
cross  and  ourselves  any  number  of  years  that  may  mitigate  our 
personal  heinousness  in  the  matter  of  this  infinite  responsibility. 

So,  then,  we  are  asking  the  old  questions  now,  repeating  the 
old  deeds  to-day,  and  at  this  very  moment  there  may  be  upper- 
most in  some  men's  thoughts  the  inquiry — "  Who  is  the  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?"  We  are  not  appalled  by  the  subject  : 
contrariwise,  we  are  familiar  with  every  sacred  phrase — yea,  we 
have  taken  God's  whole  revelation  and  gone  over  it  in  words  so 
frequently  that  now  we  repeat  them  almost  mechanically.     Could 


44  MATTHEW  XVIII.  1-14. 

we  think  ourselves  back  to  the  time  of  Matthew  the  Apostle,  who 
gives  us  the  expressive  phrase,  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven" — could 
we  think  and  feel  ourselves  back  until  the  phrase  came  to  us  for 
the  first  time,  what  throb  of  feeling,  what  high  and  sacred  anima- 
tion, what  marvellous  challenges  of  the  imagination  should  we 
feel  !  Yet  that  phrase  may  be  repeated  so  often  that  we  may  begin 
ourselves  to  map  it  out  into  greater,  smaller — greater,  lesser — 
higher,  lower — superior  and  inferior,  and  allot  men  to  its  various 
occupancy.  Familiarity  may  destroy  reverence  :  we  may  repeat 
our  sacred  phrases  so  often  as  to  lose  their  lustre  or  their 
bloom. 

Jesus  Christ  now  answers  the  question  with  a  great  but  most  un- 
expected reply  :  "  And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  him,  and  sat 
him  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Ex- 
cept ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall 
not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  As  if  he  should  say, 
"  You  are  asking  who  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  for- 
getting the  earlier  question,  how  to  get  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Pause  before  you  begin  to  take  your  seat  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  : 
be  sure  you  are  in  the  kingdom  itself."  The  question  takes  upon 
itself  a  thousand  wrong  accents,  and  smites  like  a  great  wind  from 
every  corner  of  heaven.  ' '  Before  you  preach  the  truth,  be  sure 
you  feel  its  power  ;  before  you  theologise  be  sure  you  can  pray  ; 
before  you  hold  high  controversy  on  things  literary  and  theological, 
be  sure  your  hearts  have  been  cleft  in  twain,  and  all  your  self- 
righteousness  has  been  expelled  from  you  like  the  poison  of  hell. 
"  Not  every  one  that  sairh  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  "  You  are  asking  me  who  is  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven — I  draw  your  minds  to  an  earlier  question  : 
Are  we  in  heaven's  kingdom — have  we  mistaken  the  vestibule  for 
the  temple — have  we  mistaken  the  gate  for  the  inner  fire,  and  the 
gentle,  infinite  hospitality  of  God  ?"  Let  us  first  consider  whether 
we  are  in  the  kingdom,  and  in  proportion  as  we  feel  ourselves  to 
be  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  we  have  little  concern  as  to  our 
particular  place  within  the  glowing  sphere. 

Speeches  like  these  of  Christ's  go  right  down  to  the  very  core 
and  root  of  things,  and  make  us  fundamental  in  our  questioning, 
vital,  anxious  even  to  agony  in  the  inquiries  which  we  address  to 


THE  ILLUSTRATIVE   CHILD.  45 

him.     A  small  thing  to  settle  gradation,  if  we  have  not  entered 
into  the  mystery  of  participation. 

Jesus  Christ  was  always  fundamental  in  his  teaching.  Who  but 
himself  dare  have  represented  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  his 
greatness  by  a  little  child  ?  Who  but  himself  had  the  sublime 
audacity,  the  infinite  tranquillity  of  power,  which  enabled  him  to 
say,  "  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  ?" 
Christ  lifted  up  the  little  into  grand  typology  ;  Christ  came  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost ;  Christ  lighted  the  candle  and 
swept  the  house  diligently  till  he  found  the  tenth  piece  ;  Christ 
wandered  over  the  mountains  to  seek  the  strayed  one  ;  Christ 
gave  commandment  to  gather  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  be 
lost.  He  is  great  walking  upon  the  sea,  great  when  standing  at 
the  grave  of  Lazarus,  and,  with  a  loud  voice  that  sent  its  resurrec- 
tional  resonance  through  all  the  chambers  of  the  dead,  says, 
"Lazarus,  come  forth;"  but,  oh,  to  me  in  my  tenderest  mo- 
ments, when  my  heart  is  all  tears  and  my  life  is  lifted  up  into  one 
crying  prayer,  he  is  greatest  when  he  calls  a  child  and  reveals  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  under  the  infinite  simplicity  of  a  child's  trustful, 
loving,  gentle  heart. 

Tt  was  a  great  day  in  the  Church  when  that  little  child  stood 
there  and  all -unconsciously  represented  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Dear  little  child  ! — so  little  that  the  Saviour  took  him  up  into  his 
arms  :  a  hand  all  dimples,  a  cheek  so  fair,  made  for  the  kiss  of 
love  and  trust  and  blessing,  and  eyes  that  had  no  speculation  in 
them,  still  a  gentle  wonder  of  dreamy  love,  looking  round  itself 
wondering  at  the  scene.  And  yet  that  child  was  made  that 
day  to  set  forth  to  all  the  ages  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !  Where, 
then,  are  the  great,  the  noble,  the  wise,  the  rich  ?  Where  are  the 
ingenious,  the  intellectual,  the  learned,  the  men  of  mighty  brain 
and  mind  ?  Where  are  they  ?  There  is  folly  in  that  question.  I 
have  always  found  that  in  proportion  as  a  man  is  truly  learned  is 
he  truly  modest  ;  in  proportion  as  a  man  is  really  great  is  he  really 
childlike.  Herein  I  would  repeat  my  own  experience  as  a 
preacher  :  if  I  have  to  preach  one  sermon  upon  which  my  whole 
future  depends,  and  if  I  have  to  choose  my  audience,  I  shall 
fill  the  church  with  the  greatest  preachers,  the  greatest  scholars,  the 


46  MATTHEW  XVIII.  1-14. 

greatest  men — they  will  have  more  pity  for  me,  more  sympathy 
with  me,  keener  insight  into  any  faculty  I  may  possess,  than 
inferior  men  can  have.  As  it  is  better  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
God  than  into  the  hands  of  men,  so  it  is  better  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  higher  class  of  men  than  into  the  hands  of  those  who 
are  inferior  in  conception,  insight,  and  range  of  sympathy. 

Jesus  Christ  in  this  discourse,  as  in  every  other,  was  himself 'the 
sermon.  He  humbled  himself  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant ;  he  was  rich  yet  for  our  sakes  became  poor  ;  he  took  a 
towel  and  girded  himself  and  washed  the  feet  of  his  disciples,  and 
said,  "  Ye  call  me  Master  and  Lord  :  so  I  am  ;  if  I  therefore  have 
washed  your  feet,  ye  ought  also  to  wash  one  another's  feet. 
Learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls."  He  shall  not  strive,  nor  cry,  nor  cause  his 
voice  to  be  heard  in  the  streets.  We  are  called  not  only,  therefore, 
to  see  the  child  in  his  arms,  but  to  see  the  still  younger,  purer 
child  that  held  the  typical  one.  They  are  both  children  :  the 
child  represents  the  Christ,  the  Christ  represents  the  Father  :  "  He 
that  receiveth  me  receiveth  not  me,  but  him  that  sent  me." 

Herein,  then,  is  a  practical  inquiry  :  have  we  the  child-heart? 
We  might  pause  here  to  rebuke  those  who  found  denominations 
upon  isolated  texts.  In  ancient  times  there  was  a  denomination 
actually  built  upon  this  one  expression  about  the  little  child  ; 
people  who  mistook  childishness  for  childlikeness  built  a  denomi- 
nation upon  the  illustration  here  given  by  Jesus  Christ.  They 
thought  the  more  childish  they  were  the  more  like  Christ  they 
would  be.  I  will  not  recite  to  you  the  enormities  they  perpetrated 
in  the  name  of  childhood.  I  only  dwell  upon  the  point  to  show 
you  how  possible  it  is  so  to  strain  the  letter  as  to  miss  the  spirit, 
and  how  mischievous  it  is  to  pervert  the  sweetest  and  grandest  say- 
ings of  the  Lord.  Childlikeness  does  not  mean  ignorance  :  child- 
likeness  does  not  mean  pretended  modesty  ;  childlikeness  does  not 
mean  that  a  man  who  is  conscious  of  his  power  should  tell  a  lie,  say- 
ing that  he  is  not  at  all  conscious  of  spiritual  strength  and  insight. 
Childlikeness  is  simplicity,  trustfulness,  utter  unconsciousness  in 
the  sense  of  vain  boasting  and  glory,  gentleness,  love,  sincerity  of 
heart  and  motive.  Do  not  strain  the  letter,  but  endeavour  to 
penetrate  the  meaning  of  the  spirit.      Few  words  are  so  misunder- 


TRUE   CHILDLIKENESS.  47 

stood  as  childlikeness,  modesty,  amiability,  simplicity.  Whenever  I 
hear  of  a  preacher  who  is  so  simple,  so  very  simple,  I  feel  no  par- 
ticular warming  of  heart  towards  him  ;  it  may  be  that  he  is  only 
inane,  wanting  in  vigour,  jejune,  sapless,  fireless.  Simplicity — do 
not  abuse  the  word — simplicity  is  the  last  result  of  wisdom, 
energy,  robustness,  and  intellectual  industry.  Simplicity  is  an 
outcome,  a  result,  as  rest  is.  The  worlds  that  fly  around  their 
centres  are  at  rest  because  of  their  velocity.  This  childlikeness  is 
not  an  ostentation,  not  a  strenuous  endeavour  to  become  a  child 
outwardly  and  literally  ;  it  is  wholly  different,  and  can  be  only 
understood  in  its  deeper  senses  and  finer  applications  by  those  who 
have  passed  through  the  great  spiritual  process  of  crucifixion,  hav- 
ing had  all  boasting  taken  out  of  them  by  the  cross  of  Christ. 

So  Jesus  proceeds  to  say  that  if  the  hand  offend,  or  the  foot 
offend,  or  the  eye  offend,  there  must  be  cutting  off  and  plucking 
out.  Whatever  stands  in  the  way  of  that  grand  spiritual  reduction 
which  ends  in  childlikeness  must  be  taken  away.  Where  then  are 
we  ?  Where  are  the  children,  the  little  children  ?  We  are 
theological — are  we  Christian?  We  are  clever — are  -we good  ?  We 
talk  about  Christ — do  we  live  Christ  ?  We  defend  the  Gospel — do 
we  exemplify  it  ?  We  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of 
angels — have  we  charity?  How  do  we  take  rebukes,  slights,  re- 
buffs, misconceptions,  misrepresentations  ?  There  is  an  ostenta- 
tion of  childlikeness,  and  I  know  of  no  outrage  much  greater  upon 
the  spirit  of  the  sanctuary  than  to  appear  to  be  children  when  we 
have  not  in  reality  the  child's  heart. 

This  course  of  reasoning  would  be  attended — were  it  carried  out 
legitimately — by  many  practical  results.  Many  would  be  first  who 
are  now  last,  some  might  be  last  who  are  now  first.  At  all  events, 
the  great  vital  question  would  be  put  by  every  man  to  his  own 
heart — am  I  in  the  kingdom  ?  Jesus  Christ  will  not  have  the  child 
spirit  slighted,  insulted,  or  neglected  :  "  Whoso  shall  offend  one 
of  these  little  ones  that  believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a 
millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in 
the  depths  of  the  sea. ' '  It  was  the  custom  in  Syria  and  in  Greece 
so  to  treat  criminals.  It  was  an  ancient  custom  to  encase  criminals 
in  lead  and  to  throw  them  into  the  sea  furthest  from  the  shore. 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  now  inventing  a  new  method  of  punishment  : 
he  is  not  speaking  vindictively,  he  is  adapting  his  conversation  to 


48  MATTHEW  XVIII.  1-14. 

what  was  well  known  to  the  people  to  whom  he  addressed  himself. 
"  Whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in  me." 
Why,  what  harm  can  there  be  in  that  ?  It  is  the  pastime  of  the 
church,  it  is  one  of  the  chief  recreations  of  the  world,  to  snub  the 
Christian,  to  contemn  the  praying  man,  to  give  the  suppliant  a 
nudge  as  you  pass  him,  and  to  laugh  at  the  fool  who  speaks  into 
vacuity.  The  Master  takes  another  view  of  the  case.  We  shall 
have  to  account  for  our  contempt.  The  idle  words  we  speak 
against  sacred  exercises  and  spiritual  relationships  will  gather 
themselves  up  into  a  severe  accusation  against  us  one  day.  These 
children,  men  of  the  child- heart,  keep  the  world  sweet.  Ten 
righteous  men  saved  the  city,  the  child-heart  saves  the  world  from 
the  decrepitude  and  ghastliness  of  old  age. 

When  this  doctrine  is  realized,  we  shall  live  more  in  grace  than 
in  genius  ;  our  life  will  be  simple  because  deeply  rooted  in  God 
and  in  truth.  Instead  of  vexing  ourselves  with  ten  thousand 
questions  which  never  can  be  settled,  we  shall  nestle  ourselves  in 
the  heart  of  the  Father.  Recall  the  case  of  Abraham.  In  his  case 
one  of  the  greatest  words  in  human  speech  or  human  history  had 
its  beginning.  The  Lord  took  him  out  one  night  and  showed  him 
all  that  was  visible  of  the  host  of  heaven,  and  said  to  the  childless 
wanderer,  Look  up — even  SO  shall  thy  seed  be."  What 
followed  ?  And  Abraham,  no  longer  the  mighty  chief  and  au- 
dacious explorer  of  lands  unknown,  no  longer  the  owner  of 
countless  flocks  and  riches  of  an  Eastern  kind,  became  himself  "a 
little  child  :  and  Abraham  BELIEVED  God — the  first  time  the 
word  "believed"  occurs  in  the  Bible  in  that  instance — and 
Abraham  believed  God:  said  to  Sight,  "Stand  back!"  said  to 
the  laws  of  Nature,  "  Hold  your  peace  !"  said  to  a  misgiving 
heart,  "  Silence,  thou  lying  tempter  !"     And  he  believed  God. 

How  much  there  is  in  that  word  believe  as  it  was  first  written  1 
Abraham  nestled  in  the  heart  of  God,  nurtured  and  fed  himself 
upon  the  Divine  vitality — such  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  be- 
lieved. ' '  Abraham  as  a  little  child  nestled  in  the  very  heart  of 
God,  so  he  became  the  father  of  the  faithful,  the  head  of  all  the 
children.  He  exemplified  the  child  heart,  relinquishing  his  own 
grandeur,  his  own  ability,  his  own  social  status,  his  own  will. 
Impoverishing  himself  of  all  that  the  world  would  have  counted 
characteristic  as  to  grandeur  and  force,  he  became  a  little  child, 


THE   CHILD -HEART.  49 


and  went  into  the  warm  heart  and  fed  himself  upon  the  Divine 
life  and  love. 

May  we  thus  know  by  manifold  discipline,  by  anxious  experi- 
ence, even  by  painful  suffering,  what  we  can  never  be  taught  by 
tne  mere  letter — how  wondrous,  how  restful  is  the  child-heart! 


LXXIII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  hearts  have  a  longing  desire  to  enter  into  thy 
courts,  even  into  the  innermost  place  of  thy  dwelling,  there  to  behold 
such  of  thy  glory  as  our  vision  can  endure.  Thou  hast  inspired  us  with 
a  great  ambition  :  this  is  not  of  our  own  creation,  but  of  thine  ;  our  de- 
sire is  to  see  thee,  to  love  thee,  to  read  thy  truth  more  deeply  and  more 
understanding^,  and  to  express  thy  purpose  in  all  the  breadth  and  force 
of  our  daily  life.  We  have  come  home,  we  have  been  brought  home  ; 
stung  by  pain,  made  mad  by  hunger,  embittered  by  disappointment,  we 
have  returned  to  our  Father's  house,  and  to-day  we  would  be  admitted  to 
his  presence.  Thou  didst  seek  us  and  thou  hast  found  us,  and  what  is 
worthy  in  us  to  be  found  thou  only  knowest,  for  we  are  filled  with  shame, 
and  wounded  and  utterly  undone.  Behold  the  image  is  in  us,  but  in 
the  eyes  of  thine  own  grace,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  we  are  what  we 
are.  Wherein  we  have  done  evil  and  spoiled  all  our  days  and  utterly 
stained  them  with  guilt,  let  thine  answer  be  one  of  redemption  and  not  of 
judgment :  let  grace  prevail  over  law,  and  let  the  tender  gospel  of  the 
blood  of  the  Son  of  God  prevail  to  silence  the  just  accusations  of  thy  law. 

Thy  law  is  severe  upon  us,  but  still  righteous.  It  cries  for  our  life,  it 
pursues  our  soul,  it  demands  the  uttermost  drop  of  blood  that  is  in  our 
guilty  hearts  ;  but  thou  hast  arrested  the  law,  thou  hast  spoken  thy  gos- 
pel, thou  hast  set  up  the  cross,  and  Jesus  Christ  is  now  our  Redeemer 
and  Saviour,  our  Priest  and  Prophet  and  King,  and  in  him  would  we 
hide  ourselves  as  in  a  rock  that  cannot  be  shaken.  There  is  no  end  to 
thy  mercy,  thy  compassions  are  more  in  number  than  the  dews  of  the 
morning,  thy  kindness  is  thrown  round  about  us  as  a  great  defence  and  a 
perpetual  comfort,  and  thine  eye  is  upon  us,  not  searchingly  in  judgment, 
but  compassionately  in  redemption.  Herein  therefore  do  we  hope,  and 
in  this  is  our  abiding  confidence. 

Whilst  we  are  in  thine  house,  fill  the  place  with  thy  presence.  Make 
room  for  thyself,  and  grant  unto  us  visions  of  thy  face  that  shall  make 
our  nearts  rejoice  with  a  great  gladness.  There  is  trouble  in  our  souk 
there  are  great  tears  in  our  eyes,  a  solemn  fear  burdens  our  spirit  like  a 
weight  that  cannot  be  borne,  and  the  little  light  that  is  in  the  sky  is 
threatened  to  be  driven  out  by  an  infinite  gloom.  Do  thou  then  come  to 
us  thyself  with  revelation  and  light  and  assurance  and  with  repetition  of 
the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  so  do  thou  command  thy  blessing  to 


PRAYER.  51 

rest  upon  us  as  to  liberate  us  from  every  chain  and  bring  us  from  under 
the  dominion  of  every  terrifying  fear. 

Thou  knowest  what  our  days  have  been,  and  what  to-morrow  shall  yet 
come,  with  new  chances  and  opportunities,  and  offers  of  larger  light  and 
nobler  liberty.  Thou  knowest  those  who  have  a  great  fear  before  them 
during  the  coming  week,  who  are  dreading  the  hour  that  shall  try  their 
very  life,  who  are  now  crying  unto  thee  to  be  fortified  against  the  trial 
that  awaits  them.  The  Lord's  grace  be  magnified  above  man's  fear,  the 
sustaining  power  of  the  goodness  of  God  lift  up  those  that  are  crushed, 
until  they  feel  the  burden  no  more.  Enter  into  every  one  of  our  houses, 
not  as  a  glance  of  light,  presently  to  depart,  but  as  an  abiding  glory,  a 
perpetual  guest,  yea  as  King  of  the  house,  and  Father  and  Ruler  of  all. 

Go  with  us  in  our  walking  up  and  down  in  the  earth,  and  in  the  doing 
of  all  the  business  of  life  ;  help  us  to  do  it  with  moral  dignity,  with  a 
consciousness  of  integrity  before  God,  knowing  that  our  purpose  is  true, 
and  our  design  wholly  honourable  in  thy  sight.  Give  us  a  right  view  of 
things  :  show  us  that  our  life  is  in  our  nostrils,  that  we  are  here  for  a 
moment,  and  will  presently  be  gone  :  animate  us  by  the  spirit  of  Christ, 
fill  us  with  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  ennoble  us  by  every  consid- 
eration that  can  lift  up  the  life  towards  the  light  that  is  in  thyself  ;  save 
us  from  despair,  deliver  us  in  temptation,  guard  us  in  danger,  surround 
us  all  the  way  through  this  slippery  path,  keep  our  feet  from  falling,  our 
eyes  from  tears,  our  soul  from  death. 

Have  compassion  upon  us  every  moment  of  the  day.  Help  us  to  for- 
give our  enemies  ;  with  the  noble  charity  of  Christ's  own  spirit  enable  us 
in  all  things  not  to  return  evil  for  good,  but  to  return  good  for  evil  ;  smit- 
ten on  the  one  cheeK,  may  we  turn  the  other  also  ;  may  it  be  our  desire 
to  know  what  Christ  would  be  and  do,  that  we  may  be  and  do  as  Christ. 

The  Lord  help  us  in  all  time  to  bear  the  burden,  to  walk  steadily  across 
the  swamp — enable  us  to  find  the  bridge  of  God's  own  building  over 
every  difficult  river — bring  us  every  one  at  last  to  see  the  meaning  of  it 
all,  and  to  give  praise  to  him  who  by  many  a  devious  way  has  led  us  to 
the  common  rest.     Amen. 


Matthew  xviii.  16-35. 

15.  Moreover  if  thy  brother  shall  trespass  (and  if  thy  brother  shall  sin) 
against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault  (convict  him)  between  thee  and  him 
alone  :  if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  hast  gained  thy  brother. 

16.  But  if  he  will  not  hear  thee,  then  take  with  thee  one  or  two  more, 
that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  every  word  may  be  estab- 
lished. 

17.  And  if  he  shall  neglect  (refuse)  to  hear  them,  tell  it  unto  the  church  : 
but  if  he  neglect  to  hear  the  church  (assembly  or  society),  let  him  be  unto 
thee  as  an  heathen  man  and  a  publican. 


52  MATTHEW  XVIII.  15-35. 

18.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall  be 
bound  in  heaven  ;  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed 
in  heaven. 

19.  Again  I  say  unto  you,  That  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as 
touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

20.  For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there 
am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.  {Ubi  ires,  ibi  Ecclesia — a  saying  of  the 
Fathers.) 

21.  Then  came  Peter  to  him,  and  said,  Lord,  how  oft  shall  my  brother 
sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him  ?  till  seven  times  ? 

22.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee,  Until  seven  times  ; 
but,  Until  seventy  times  seven  (symbolic  numbers). 

23.  Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven  likened  unto  a  certain  king, 
which  would  take  account  of  his  servants. 

24.  And  when  he  had  begun  to  reckon,  one  was  brought  unto  him, 
which  owed  him  ten  thousand  talents  (two  millions  and  a  half  sterling)  : 

25.  But  forasmuch  as  he  had  not  to  pay,  his  lord  commanded  him  to  be 
sold,  and  his  wife  and  children,  and  all  that  he  had,  and  payment  to  be 
made. 

26.  The  servant  therefore  fell  down,  and  worshipped  him,  saying, 
Lord,  have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all. 

27.  Then  the  lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with  compassion,  and 
loosed  him,  and  forgave  him  the  debt  (literally  a  debt  contracted  through 
a  loan). 

28.  But  the  same  servant  went  out,  and  found  one  of  his  fellow-ser- 
vants, which  owed  him  an  hundred  pence  ;  and  he  laid  hands  on  him, 
and  took  him  by  the  throat,  saying,  Pay  me  that  thou  owest. 

29.  And  his  fellow-servant  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  besought  him, 
saying,  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all. 

30.  And  he  would  not  ;  but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison,  till  he 
should  pay  the  debt. 

31.  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw  what  was  done,  they  were  very 
sorry,  and  came  and  told  unto  their  lord  all  that  was  done. 

32.  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had  called  him,  said  unto  him,  O  thou 
wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that  debt,  because  thou  desiredst 
(entreatedst)  me  : 

33.  Shouldest  not  thou  also  have  had  compassion  on  thy  fellow-servant, 
even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ? 

34.  And  his  lord  was  wroth,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till 
he  should  pay  all  that  was  due  unto  him. 

35.  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from 
your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his  brother  their  trespasses. 


CHRIST'S  PORTRAITURE   OF  SIM  53 


BROTHERHOOD  AND  FORGIVENESS. 

A  THREAD  of  connection  binds  these  apparently  broken 
sentences.  The  subject  is  the  child-heart — these  are  illus- 
trations of  its  actions  in  daily  life.  A  notable  consequence  is  the 
fact  that  Jesus  Christ  himself  was  the  living  exemplification  of  his 
own  doctrine.  He  was  himself  the  child  in  the  midst  of  us  ;  he 
was  meek  and  lowly  in  heart.  Our  first  lesson,  therefore,  is 
founded  on  the  fact  that  the  child-heart  may  be  associated  with 
the  keenest  intellectual  penetration.  Carefully  considered,  it  will  be 
found  that  these  illustrations  are  most  remarkable  instances  of 
Christ's  intellectual  virility,  especially  as  revealing  profound  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature. 

How  could  he  know  how  to  portray  sin  so  vividly  who  knew  no 
sin  himself  ?  How  could  he  enter  into  feelings  which  had  never 
excited  his  own  heart  ?  Account  for  this.  Yet  never  was  sin 
drawn  by  the  hand  of  so  powerful  an  artist.  We  are  told  that  only 
those  who  have  known  delirium  tremens  can  describe  its  effect,  or 
give  any  true  hint  of  its  infernal  revelations.  Surely  only  the 
sinner  can  talk  about  sin.  There  will  be  some  slip  of  the  tongue 
on  the  part  of  any  man  who  attempts  to  talk  about  that  of  which  he 
himself  has  had  no  experience  :  he  will  break  down  in  his 
portraiture,  he  will  employ  false  colours,  he  will  set  things  in  un- 
due relationships.  Yet  the  absolutely  sinless  One  describes  sin  : 
spotless,  incorruptible  Virtue  sits  down  to  paint  every  lineament  of 
hideous  vice,  the  Sun  of  holiness  undertakes  to  photograph  the 
ghastliness  of  crime  ! 

How  can  it  be  done  ?  We  should  mock  the  man  who  knew 
nothing  about  music  undertaking  to  give  his  opinion  about  it.  A 
man  who  had  never  handled  a  brush  or  mingled  two  colours 
would  be  mocked  if  he  claimed  to  paint  the  simplest  object  in 
nature.  His  want  of  experience  would  be  thrown  in  his  face  as  an 
argument  against  his  pretensions,  and  justly  so.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  men  acquire  influence  and  draw  around  themselves  the  trust 
of  others  ;  their  experience  is  so  rich,  so  varied,  so  painful  in  its 
exactness,  so  exquisitely  coincident  with  the  facts  of  this  tragical 
life.  Jesus  Christ,  however,  undertakes  to  describe  sin,  and  to 
track  the  evil  motive  all  through  and  through  its  winding  way  in 


54  MATTHEW  XVIII.  15-35. 

the  cavernous  heart,  and  to  watch  its  coming  out  at  the  last  in 
vivid  and  actual  expression.  How  will  he  do  this  ?  We  can 
tell,  too,  exactly  how  the  Sun  will  paint  the  portrait  of  crime — we 
can  compare  the  photograph  with  the  original,  we  can  say,  ' '  Look 
on  this  picture  and  on  this,"  and  laugh  at  the  minister  who  under- 
took to  complete  a  photograph  about  which  he  himself  knew 
nothing.  In  this  way  we  can  tell  precisely  whether  Christ 
preached  in  pretence  or  in  truth  when  he  attempted  to  describe 
human  nature. 

The  doctrine  must  be  without  value  if  he  does  not  fully  under- 
stand the  nature  to  which  he  proposes  to  apply  it.  We  have  many 
superficial  religions,  simply  because  we  have  many  superficial 
theories  of  human  nature.  How  can  he  prescribe  for  a  disease  who 
never  heard  of  it  before  ?  How  can  he  undertake  to  speak  a 
language  of  which  he  does  not  know  so  much  as  one  letter  ?  We 
have  easy  remedies,  because  we  have  ignorant  conceptions  of  the 
symptoms  and  realities  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  Christianity 
is  mysterious  because  sin  is  mysterious — the  remedy  must  be 
adapted  to  the  disease.  Christ  saw  the  mystery  of  our  life,  and 
adapted  the  mystery  of  his  religion  to  it.  Beware  of  any  sugges- 
tion that  is  marked  by  extreme  and  miscalled  simplicity  in  this 
matter  of  redeeming  and  reclaiming  human  nature.  Human 
nature  is  not  itself  a  simple  construction  :  find  simple  keys  for 
simple  locks,  but  where  the  lock  is  complicated,  the  key  must 
match  its  complication  in  every  line. 

When  I  enter  the  Christian  sanctuary  and  hear  the  Christian  re- 
ligion enunciated,  I  am  struck  by  its  mysteriousness,  its  remote- 
ness from  all  common  things,  its  metaphysical  and  transcendental 
claim  and  point  of  observation,  and  in  my  ignorance  I  say, 
"Surely  something  simpler  than  this  could  be  devised."  But 
God  sends  me  back  to  consider  my  own  nature — know  thyself. 
When  I  have  studied  the  lock,  I  find  that  the  mystery  was  in  me, 
not  in  God—  in  sin,  not  in  truth — in  rebellion,  not  in  redemp- 
tion. 

How  could  Jesus  Christ  undertake  to  speak  that  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son  ?  His  audacity  amazes  me.  Let  him  paint  the  well- 
behaved  boy,  that  never  left  his  father's  house  an  hour,  that  retired 


KNOWLEDGE   OF  HUMAN  NATURE.  55 

regularly  and  rose  punctually,  and  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his 
way  all  through  the  hours  of  the  day,  with  undeviating  punctilious- 
ness ;  let  him  tell  us  about  his  prayers,  his  virtues,  his  untempted 
integrity,  his  paper  loyalty — there  he  may  be  at  home  ;  but  Son  of 
God,  Child  of  the  heavens,  Companion  of  angels — how  can  he  un- 
dertake to  describe  the  way  of  the  prodigal  ?  He  will  stumble  ;  he 
will  make  the  most  ludicrous  mistakes.  How  will  he  talk  about 
riotous  living  and  harlots,  and  all  the  ways  of  darkness  and  all  the 
speech  of  hell  ?  He  will  pronounce  that  speech  like  a  foreigner  ; 
there  will  be  an  accent  in  its  utterance  that  will  make  us  smile  as 
if  mocking  the  man  who  had  undertaken  to  speak  such  a  speech. 
Let  any  critic  sit  down  to  consider  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son 
simply  as  a  delineation  of  human  nature,  and  say  if  he  could 
amend  one  word,  add  one  hue  to  the  vivid  colouring,  or  mark  in 
more  graphic  boldness  the  outline  of  the  madman's  career. 

Whence  this  knowledge  of  human  nature  ?  Truly  Jesus  needed 
not  that  any  should  testify  of  man,  for  he  knew  what  was  in  man. 
That  he  should  never  have  been  corrected  in  his  delineation  of 
virtue  is  a  commonplace,  but  that  he  should  never  have  been  criti- 
cised successfully  in  his  delineation  of  vice  transcends  in  power  of 
surprise  any  miracle  of  his  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  Take  this 
instance  of  trespasses  and  forgiveness  and  ask  how  far  they  co- 
ordinate with  all  we  know  of  human  nature.  Did  the  Man  know 
what  he  was  talking  about  ?  Did  he  pronounce  our  language  like 
a  foreigner  ?  Did  he  give  merely  superficial  etchings,  or  faithful 
and  undeniable  delineations  of  our  very  selves  ?     Let  us  see. 

' '  If  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee. ' '  But  do  brothers 
trespass  against  one  another  ?  How  bold  the  assumption,  how 
improbable  the  circumstance  !  The  Man  romances.  It  is  im- 
possible that  brother  should  trespass  against  brother — what  is  the 
speaker  thinking  of  ?  Brothers  will  love  brothers,  brother  will 
never  disagree  with  brother — it  must  be,  "  If  a  man  shall  trespass 
against  his  enemy — kill  a  wild  beast,  shoot  a  bird  of  prey. "  It  is 
not  so.  "  If  thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee."  This  man 
knows  what  he  is  talking  about,  he.  is  familiar  with  facts,  he  looks 
at  human  life  in  its  actuality.  He  paints  nothing  in  merely  rosy 
hues,  he  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that  the  whole  social  head 
is  sick  and  the  whole  social  heart  is  faint.      He  who  grips  funda- 


56  MATTHEW  xVIII.  15-35. 

mental  facts  in  this  way  may  possibly  have  some  remedy  for  the 
disease  which  he  depicts. 

"  If  he  will  not  hear  thee."  It  is  impossible — a  brother  not 
hearing  a  brother,  a  man  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  a  fellow-man  who 
goes  to  expostulate  with  him,  a  man  hardening  himself  into  an 
unresponsive  stone  when  the  human  voice  falls  upon  his  ear  in 
piteous  and  pleading  tone  !  O  Christ,  thou  art  now  in  regions  too 
remote  for  thy  thought  to  be  familiar  with — so  would  one  talk 
about  such  words  as  these — but  what  are  the  facts  of  daily  life  ? 

Have  you  met  with  men  who  will  not  listen  to  you  when  you 
go  to  state  your  complaint,  or  to  ask  for  redress,  or  to  demand 
that  simple  justice  be  done  ?  Are  there  stubborn  men,  are  there 
deaf  souls,  are  there  those  who  draw  themselves  up  into  impene- 
trable isolation  when  you  wish  them  to  listen  to  statements  which 
you  suppose  will  correct  their  judgment  and  bring  their  conscience 
to  bear  intelligently  upon  a  given  set  of  circumstances  ?  Is  the 
picture  correctly  drawn  ? 

' '  Take  with  thee  one  or  two  more. ' '  How  did  he,  the  Christ, 
know  how  to  treat  a  social  difficulty  ?  If  the  brother  would  not 
hear  the  one  man,  how  would  he  possibly  hear  the  one  or  two 
more?  "That  every  word  may  be  established."  Why,  would 
the  man  go  back  upon  his  own  word  ?  What  need  have  we  of 
witnesses  in  social  life,  especially  in  Church  or  Christian  life  ? 
When  a  brother  has  spoken  a  sentence,  he  will  never  surely 
modify  it,  recall  it,  deny  it,  trifle  with  it — why  should  there  be 
one  or  two  more  listening,  taking  notes,  and  called  in  for  the 
purpose  of  verification  ?  Truth  is  simple,  truth  is  easy,  truth 
will  never  be  denied,  truth  will  stand  when  all  things  fall — why 
should  there  be  one  or  two  more?  Have  you  never  felt  the 
necessity  of  having  a  witness  present  when  a  man  was  talking  who 
had  done  a  trespass  ?  The  very  fact  that  he  had  done  the  trespass 
gave  you  ground  for  believing  that  he  would  do  the  further 
trespass  -of  denying  his  own  word.  How  he  knows  us,  how  he 
searches  us  through  and  through,  how  his  eye  burns  upon  us — 
there  is  nothing  hidden  from  the  light  thereof !  A  man  who  talks 
so  about  our  personal  and  social  relations"  may  have  something 
to  say  presently  of  a  deeper  kind. 

"Let  him  be  unto  thee  as  an  heathen  man  and  a  publican." 


CHRIST'S    UNIVERSAL   PRESENCE.  57 

There  is  a  point  at  which  patience  gives  out.  Jesus  Christ  points 
to  a  similar  circumstance  in  our  higher  relations — the  Lord  is  long- 
suffering  and  very  kind  of  heart,  and  his  eyes  are  filled  with  pity 
and  he  longs  to  see  us  come  home,  and  he  has  prepared  broad 
welcome  for  our  prodigal,  penitent  hearts  ;  yet  there  is  a  point  at 
which  he  says,  "Let  him  alone:  this  sin  hath  forgiveness  neither 
in  this  world  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come. ' '  To  God  we  may  be 
as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican,  to  our  Creator  we  may  be  an 
eternal  offence.  This  is  the  mystery  of  life — we  may  be  cast  out 
of  our  Father's  heart,  and  be  thrown  by  our  own  sinful  hands 
beyond  the  bounds  of  penitence  and  forgiveness. 

Jesus  Christ  then  says  that  whenever  a  process  is  conducted  in 
this  fashion  and  the  final  word  is  spoken,  be  it  a  word  of  binding 
or  of  loosing — whatever  is  done  rightly  upon  earth  is  done  also 
in  heaven.  The  earthly  books  on  which  the  transaction  is  written 
may  be  burned,  but  the  registry  above  is  beyond  the  reach  of  fire. 
Not  only  so,  he  says  that  where  the  right  process  is  conducted, 
and  two  or  three  come  together  to  settle  the  matter,  there  he  is. 
This  matter  is  not  settled  in  stubbornness  and  resentfulness  or  in 
a  spirit  of  social  injustice,  but  it  is  done  religiously ;  where  two 
or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  to  cut  off  any  man  or 
to  take  any  man  back  again  into  the  fold  which  he  has  left, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.  This  passage  has  been  quoted 
in  reference  to  prayer  meetings,  and  in  reference  to  small  re- 
ligious gatherings,  and  has  been  misquoted  so  as  to  bring  in 
the  words,  "and  that  to  bless."  Jesus  Christ  is  not  speaking 
about  such  meetings — his  subject  is  altogether  different ;  it  is 
solemnly  and  graciously  true  of  every  meeting  of  hearts  for  the 
purpose  of  worshipping  God  through  Christ ;  but  in  this  instance 
Jesus  Christ  is  speaking  about  another  subject  altogether,  and 
therefore  the  text  must  not  be  wrested  from  its  immediate  ap- 
plication to  bear  but  a  secondary  reference  to  other  sets  of 
circumstances.  He  would  rather  not  be  present  when  any  man 
is  accounted  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican — but  he  must  be 
there.      He  is  Judge  as  well  as  Saviour. 

Peter  now  interposes  and  shows  that  he  knows  nothing  about 
human  nature.  We  see  how  grand  Christ  is  by  seeing  how 
pitifully  little  every   other  man  is   in   comparison.     Peter  comes 


58  MATTHEW  XVIII.  15-35. 

forward  with  a  half-question,  based  upon  a  half-view  of  human 
nature  :  "  How  oft  shall  my  brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive 
him  ?"  The  question  is  founded  upon  a  foolish  assumption.  You 
do  not  know  how  high  the  mountain  is  till  you  see  some  other 
mountain  and  set  it  up  against  it  shoulder  to  shoulder.  Mont  Blanc 
does  not  impress  strangers  who  visit  the  neighborhood  for  the 
first  time — they  are  rather  surprised  that  the  mountain  is  not 
higher.  But  let  them  climb  the  old  king's  shoulder,  and  one 
by  one  how  the  mountains  are  left  behind,  as  the  traveller 
goes  up  into  awful  solitude.  So  with  this  Christ.  We  could 
have  read  this  passage  ending  with  the  words  "There  am  I 
in  the  midst  of  them,"  and  never  felt  its  grandeur  ;  but  when 
we  hear  Peter,  our  own  brother,  who  ought  to  have  known  all 
about  human  nature,  we .  feel  ashamed  of  him.  "How  oft 
shall  my  brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive  him  ?" — the  self-com- 
placent dog  !  "  My  brother  sin  against  me/'  Just  like  us  !  It 
never  occurred  to  Peter  that  he  might  sin  against  his  brother. 
Standing  there  in  conscious  perfectness  of  character  and  disposition, 
will  and  thought,  godly  man,  serene  and  most  pious  soul,  he  won- 
ders how  often  he  has  to  play  the  great  man  by  forgiving  somebody 
else  !  He  starts  from  a  wrong  point.  The  question  is  not  an  in- 
nocent one,  it  is  steeped  in  guilt  if  he  did  but  know  it ;  but  who- 
ever assumes  his  own  peccability,  who  ever  starts  the  question  from 
the  possibility  that  he  may  be  the  offender  ? 

Peter  further  discloses  his  littleness  by  making  a  suggestion  as  to 
the  number  of  times — "till  seven  times?"  Now  let  us  look  at 
Mont  Blanc  and  see  how  far  this  little  molehill  compares  advanta- 
geously with  the  infinite  majesty.  "I  say  not  unto  thee  until 
seven  times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven."  My  thought  is  not 
your  thought,  neither  are  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For 
as  the  heaven  is  high  above  the  earth,  so  are  my  thoughts  higher 
than  your  thoughts. 

The  answer  appals  me,  the  answer  rejoices  me.  You  have  in  this 
sentence  an  illustration  of  the  severity  and  the  goodness  of  God. 
We  are  called  upon  to  forgive  the  repentant  brother  until  seventy 
times  seven.  If  he  turn  saying,  "I  repent,"  forgive  him.  How 
oft  ?  a  countable  number  of  times  ?  No,  an  uncountable  number 
of  times  !  Therein  is  the  discipline  most  severe.  Why,  then, 
docs  the  text  rejoice  me  ?     In  this  way  ;  because  if  God  asks  so 


FORGIVENESS  FROM  THE  HEART.  59 

much  from  me,  what  will  he  be  prepared  to  be  and  to  do  himself  in 
reference  to  my  repentance  ?  I  will  point  out  his  own  words  if 
the  argument  should  grow  very  serious  and  high — laying  my 
finger  upon  this  celestial  arithmetic,  how  I  might  plead  with  him  ! 
The  Lord  is  slow  to  anger,  plenteous  in  forgiveness.  He  multiplies 
to  pardon  ;  it  is  not  a  thin  transparent  wave  he  allows  to  flow  over 
the  black  stone  of  my  sin,  but  sea  upon  sea,  Atlantic  upon  Atlantic 
he  pours  upon  that  blackness,  letting  it  be  found  no  more  for  ever. 
Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts, 
and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon 
him,  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon,  with  multi- 
plied forgiveness,  wave  upon  wave,  billow  upon  billow  of  forgiv- 
ing love,  and  our  sin  shall  be  as  a  stone  cast  into  the  depths  of  the 
sea. 

Out  of  this  reasoning  Jesus  brings  the  flower  of  a  parable  about 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  being  likened  unto  a  certain  king  which 
would  take  account  of  his  servants.  Search  that  parable  and 
you  will  see  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  puts  forward  rights  and 
claims,  and  insists  upon  their  being  met.  There  is  no  trifling  with 
the  law  of  righteousness  in  this  parable  :  no  mere  bubble  of  senti- 
ment is  this,  but  a  living  thing  with  a  living  claim.  He  who  has 
nothing  to  pay  must  be  sold,  and  payment  must  be  made.  Read 
this  parable  further,  and  you  will  see  that  whilst  righteous  claims 
are  set  forth  the  spirit  of  mercy  is  consulted.  "  Have  patience  with 
me  and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  "  Observe,  there  is  nothing  sentimental 
here  ;  the  debt  is  acknowledged,  payment  is  promised,  patience  is 
invoked,  and  the  king,  grand  in  imperial  majesty,  becomes  grander 
still  in  moral  clemency.  So  the  flower  is  rooted  in  the  rocks,  and 
the  rocks  are  rooted  in  the  sun,  and  the  sun  is  rooted  in  God. 

We  need  not  pursue  the  bad  servant,  who,  being  forgiven  him- 
self failed  to  forgive  another  ;  we  must  hasten  to  the  solemn  word 
which  closes  the  parable.  "  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father 
jo  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his 
brother  their  trespasses. ' '  There  can  be  no  doubt,  then,  whatever 
as  to  the  operation  of  this  law  of  retribution  and  pardon — a  child 
can  understand  this  parable  ;  no  secret  wizardry  or  black  art  prevents 
us  from  seeing  God's  meaning  in  this  great  matter  of  human  forgive- 
ness. There  is  no  grammatical  puzzle  in  the  interpretation  of  this 
parable  ;  do  not  seek  to  find  any  way  out  of  it ;  it  comes  to  one  of 


60  MATTHEW  XVIII.  15-35. 

two  things  ;  either  forgive  for  Christ's  sake  and  be  forgiven,  or  do 
not  forgive  and  be  not  forgiven. 

Wondrous  is  the  word,  "If  ye  from  your  hearts."  Forgiveness 
is  sometimes  an  affair  of  the  lips,  pardon  is  accompanied  with  a 
thousand  reservations.  I  know  of  no  men  so  disinclined  to  forgive- 
ness as  professing  Christians.  How  barbarians  do  I  cannot  tell, 
but  professing  Christians  cannot  forgive.  Ministers  of  the  gospel 
there  are  who  have  never  known  the  joy  of  having  forgiven  a  brother 
man.  They  forgive  with  parentheses,  they  forgive  with  great  b\gi/s 
following  the  reluctant  words.  They  will  forgive  but  not  forget, 
they  will  watch,  they  will  wait,  they  will  hope,  they  will  even  hope 
for  the  best,  but  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  restore  confidence  ! 
Marvellous  Christianity, — evangelical  doctrine,  diabolical  teviper. 
Spotless  orthodoxy, — black,  hideous  devilism.  Forgiveness  should 
be  the  delight  of  Christian  men.  Forgiveness  must  be  based  upon 
repentance — there  must  be  confession  or  there  cannot  be  pardon. 
"But if  thy  brother  turn  again,  saying,  I  repent,  forgive  him" — 
do  not  take  six  months  to  see  how  he  behaves  ;  you  must  behave 
well.  "If  thy  brother  turn  again  saying"  I  repent,  forgive  him." 
Do  not  say,  "It  will  be  a  long  time  before  the  old  love  comes  back" 
— where  would  you  be  this  day  if  God  forgave  you  with  a  distinct 
intimation  that  he  was  going  to  withhold  his  old  love  ?  Happy  he 
who  can  pray,  ' '  Forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  them  that  tres- 
pass against  us."  That  is  the  crux  of  prayer, — that  is  the  supreme 
difficulty  of  intercession  ! 


HOMILETIC  NOTE  ON  THE  PARABLE. 

Verses  23-35. — The  principal  ideas  suggested  by  this  parable  are  : — 
I.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  recognises  individual  responsibility, — a  king 
•would  take  account  of  his  servants  ;  2.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a 
iingdom  of  justice, — "  his  lord  commanded  him  to  be  sold,"  etc.  (verse 
25)  ;  3-  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  kingdom  of  mercy, — "  the  lord  of 
that  servant  was  moved  with  compassion  ;"  4.  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
teaches  that  personal  obligation  should  become  a  social  benefit, — he  who 
has  been  forgiven  should  forgive  ;  5.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  having 
failed  in  mercy  will  have  recourse  to  absolute  justice, — "  his  lord  was 
wroth,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tormentors,  till  he  should  pay  all  that 
was  due  unto  him." 


LXXIV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  how  wonderful  is  thy  word,  and  how  dull  is  our  un- 
derstanding !  We  come  that  we  may  be  inspired  to  read  thy  word,  which 
is  itself  inspired,  that  so  we  may  know  its  meaning  and  feel  its  gentle 
power.  Thy  word  is  truth  ;  but  what  is  truth  ?  Behold,  it  is  higher  than 
the  firmament,  and  brighter  than  all  the  stars.  Help  us  to  yearn  after  it 
in  its  own  spirit,  to  cry  mightily  for  it  in  earnest  and  believing  desire  ; 
and  satisfy  us  with  daily  revelation  as  thou  dost  feed  us  with  daily  bread. 

We  have  come  into  thine  house  to  find  here  what  we  cannot  find  other 
where.  This  is  the  house  of  our  Father,  the  place  of  the  shining  of  his 
countenance,  and  in  this  holy  sanctuary  is  there  rest  for  those  that  are  ill 
at  ease.  Here  thou  dost  cause  the  weary  to  sit  down  awhile  that  they 
may  recover  their  breath,  and  here  thou  dost  bind  that  which  was  broken 
down  and  heal  it  with  heaven's  own  health.  Here  thou  dost  speak  to  the 
heart  in  tenderest  music,  and  here  thou  withholdest  nothing  of  the  gospel 
that  can  redeem  and  liberate  from  its  burden  and  its  torment,  and  turn 
every  affliction  of  life  into  a  new  and  hopeful  sacrament.  This  thou  dost 
in  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom,  indeed,  thou  doest  all  things.  Centre  of  all, 
Sum  and  Total  of  all,  Alpha,  Omega,  Beginning,  Ending,  Root  and 
Branch,  behold  it  is  in  him  alone  that  we  may  find  every  answer  to  every 
question.  On  his  shoulder  is  the  key  of  the  house  of  David,  and  in  him 
is  all  authority  and  light.  We  have  reconciliation  by  him,  he  speaks  of 
forgiveness,  from  his  lips  we  hear  most  tenderly  and  fully  of  all  thy  love, 
and  to  him  we  come  for  every  answer  to  our  sorrow,  and  for  deliverance, 
complete  and  final,  from  the  pressure  of  our  sin. 

How  wonderful  is  thy  way  !  Behold  thy  Son  is  God  and  Man — 
Emmanuel,  God  with  us.  We  cannot  understand  thee  nor  follow  thee, 
and  the  poor  line  of  our  reason  cannot  sound  the  infinite  fathoms  of  thy 
great  wisdom.  Thou  hast  made  the  dust  into  man  ;  the  crumbled  bread 
into  a  sacrificial  body  ;  the  wine  left  in  the  cup  thou  hast  reddened  into 
atoning  blood  ;  of  the  Virgin  thou  hast  made  the  Mother  ;  of  Three  thou 
hast  made  One,  and  of  One  Three.  So  dost  thou  contradict  our  reason 
and  abase  it  with  painful  humiliation  ;  and  yet  above  all  dost  thou  reign 
in  indivisible  unity,  Sovereign  of  the  universe  and  Father  of  all.  Lift 
up  our  thought  to  thyself  ;  give  it  enlargement  and  ennoblement  ;  save 
us  from  all  mean  conceptions  and  unworthy  views  of  thyself  and  thy  uni- 
verse ;  give  us  that  bold  and  quiet  and  noble  view  and  hold  of  all  things 
which  thou  alone  canst  give,  for  thou  only  hast  the  keys  of  all  power. 


62  PR  A  YER. 

We  have  come  to  bless  thee  :  one,  sweetly,  with  subdued  voice  and 
pensive  tone,  and  others  with  trumpets  and  instruments  of  brass,  loud 
and  ringing,  because  thou  hast  done  great  things  for  them  ;  but  for  one 
purpose  we  have  all  come  :  the  bruised  reed  to  bless  thee  for  healing, 
the  smoking  flax  to  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  not  extinguished  its  dying 
spark  ;  and  all  of  us  who  have  received  much  at  thine  hand  have  a  song 
with  which  we  would  fain  equal  the  gift  if  we  could.  Hear,  then,  we 
humbly  ask  thee,  the  utterance  of  every  heart,  the  sighing  of  every  spirit, 
the  cry  of  the  weak  and  the  desire  of  the  strong  ;  and  according  to  our 
varied  necessity  let  thy  blessing  come  from  the  sanctuary  and  rest  upon 
every  one  of  us.  Give  the  feeblest  strength,  give  the  meanest  a  standing 
before  thee  which  we  could  have  no  other  where,  and  let  the  wanderer 
feel  that  the  great  house  door  is  still  open,  and  the  great  Fatherly  heart 
still  yearning,  and  that  even  now  the  prodigal  may  return  and  sit  down  in 
his  Father's  house. 

Hear  all  special  praises  for  household  mercies,  for  business  prosperity, 
for  deliverance  from  entanglements  and  embarrassments,  and  for  such 
hopes  as  make  the  heart  young  and  strong  amid  life's  burden  and  storms. 
Sanctify  our  afflictions,  bring  us  the  nearer  together  for  our  momentary 
separations,  and  may  there  be  in  all  our  hearts  glowing  love  to  him  who 
for  us  bore  the  Cross. 

Thou  knowest  what  we  are,  how  thou  hast  made  us  ;  for  we  are  the 
work  of  thine  hands,  and  we  are  not  of  our  own  fashioning.  Thou 
knowest  our  characteristics  ;  thou  knowest  our  special  temptations,  pe- 
culiar difficulties  ;  and  thou  wilt  deal  gently  with  the  creatures  of  thine 
hand,  for  it  is  not  in  all  thine  heart  to  judge  us  with  destruction.  Lord, 
have  mercy  upon  us  ;  Christ,  have  mercy  upon  us  ;  Spirit  of  the  living 
God,  dwell  with  us  ;  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  come  to  our  hearts 
and  make  them  dwellings  for  the  Holy  One. 

And  send  sweet  messages  of  love  and  hope  to  all  for  whom  we  ought 
to  pray.  Remember  the  little  sick  chamber,  curtained  and  screened  be- 
cause even  the  light  is  a  pain,  and  speak  to  those  whose  strength  is  going. 
When  their  feet  touch  the  last  cold  river,  may  the  waters  part  and  stand 
on  heaps,  that  thy  redeemed  ones  may  go  through  as  on  dry  ground. 
Pity  those  who  have  no  pity  on  themselves — who  break  their  father's  and 
their  mother's  hearts,  who  break  every  commandment  and  insult  every 
courtesy,  and  despoil  the  most  sacred  associations  of  life.  Only  thy  gos- 
pel, full  of  redeeming  blood  and  redeeming  love,  can  reach  extremities  so 
violent.  Go  with  those  who  are  upon  the  sea,  and  give  them  good  voyag- 
ing and  safe  landing.  Be  with  our  dear  ones  who  have  become  our  cor- 
respondents, who  once  were  our  daily  companions.  The  Lord  give  them 
favour  in  the  sight  of  the  people  by  whom  they  are  surrounded,  and  may 
their  letters  to  us  be  letters  written  with  love  and  filled  with  light.  As 
for  the  prisoner  and  the  doomed  man  and  the  outcast  and  the  blas- 
phemer, what  can  we  say  ?  Thou  knowest  what  we  ought  to  say  :  take  it, 
we  pray  thee,  as  said  in  many  words  and  with  many  tears,  and  out  of  the 


THE   TEXT.  63 

infinite  fulness  of  thy  grace  do  thou  send  us  answers  that  shall  make  us 
glad.     Amen. 

Matthew  xix. 

1.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  Jesus  had  finished  these  sayings,  he 
departed  from  Galilee,  and  came  into  the  coasts  of  Judaea  beyond 
Jordan  ; 

2.  And  great  multitudes  followed  him  ;  and  he  healed  them  there. 

3.  The  Pharisees  also  came  unto  him,  tempting  him,  and  saying  unto 
him,  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife  for  every  cause  ? 

4.  And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Have  ye  not  read,  that  he 
which  made  them  at  the  beginning  made  them  male  and  female, 

5.  And  said,  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and 
shall  cleave  to  his  wife  :  and  they  twain'  shall  be  one  flesh  ? 

6.  Wherefore  they  are  no  more  twain,  but  one  flesh.  What  therefore 
God  hath  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder. 

7.  They  say  unto  him,  Why  did  Moses  then  command  to  give  a  writing 
of  divorcement,  and  to  put  her  away  ? 

8.  He  saith  unto  them,  Moses  because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts 
suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives  ;  but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not 
so. 

9.  And  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  it 
be  for  fornication,  and  shall  marry  another,  committeth  adultery  ;  and 
whoso  marrieth  her  which  is  put  away  doth  commit  adultery. 

10.  His  disciples  say  unto  him,  If  the  case  of  the  man  be  so  with  his 
wife,  it  is  not  good  to  marry. 

11.  But  he  said  unto  them,  All  men  cannot  receive  this  saying,  save 
they  to  whom  it  is  given. 

12.  For  there  are  some  eunuchs,  which  were  so  born  from  their 
mother's  womb  ;  and  there  are  some  eunuchs,  which  were  made  eunuchs 
of  men  ;  and  there  be  eunuchs,  which  have  made  themselves  eunuchs  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake.  He  that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him 
receive  it. 

13.  Then  were  there  brought  unto  him  little  children,  that  he  should 
put  his  hands  on  them,  and  pray  :  and  the  disciples  rebuked  them. 

14.  But  Jesus  said,  Suffer  little  children,  and  forbid  them  not,  to  come 
unto  me  ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

15.  And  he  laid  his  hands  on  them,  and  departed  thence. 

16.  And,  behold,  one  came  and  said  unto  him.  Good  Master,  what 
good  thing  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ? 

17.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me  good?  there  is  none 
good  but  one,  that  is,  God  :  but  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep  the  com- 
mandments. 

18.  He  saith  unto  him,  Which  ?  Jesus  said,  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder, 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  Thou  shalt  not 
bear  false  witness. 


64  MATTHEW  XIX. 


19.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother  ;  and,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bour as  thyself. 

20.  The  young  man  saith  unto  him,  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from 
my  youth  up  :  what  lack  I  yet  ? 

21.  Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou 
hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  :  and 
come  and  follow  me. 

22.  But  when  the  young  man  heard  that  saying,  he  went  away  sorrow- 
ful :  for  he  had  great  possessions. 

23.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  a 
rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

24.  And  again  I  say  unto  you,  It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

25.  When  his  disciples  heard  it,»they  were  exceedingly  amazed,  saying, 
Who  then  can  be  saved  ? 

26.  But  Jesus  beheld  them,  and  said  unto  them,  With  men  this  is  im- 
possible :  but  with  God  all  things  are  possible. 

27.  Then  answered  Peter  and  said  unto  him,  Behold,  we  have  forsaken 
all,  and  followed  thee  ;  what  shall  we  have  therefore  ? 

28.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  ye  which 
have  followed  me,  in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in 
the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel. 

29.  And  every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  brethren,  or  sisters, 
or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  my  name's  sake, 
shall  receive  an  hundredfold,  and  shall  inherit  everlasting  life. 

30.  But  many  that  are  first  shall  be  last  ;  and  the  last  shall  be  first. 

FUNDAMENTAL    ANSWERS. 

JESUS  CHRIST  shows  himself  perfectly  familiar  with  subjects 
which  apparently  lay  at  an  infinite  distance  from  the  purpose 
which  he  came  to  accomplish.  The  question  of  divorce  and 
the  salvation  of  the  world  would  seem  to  have  no  connection. 
Docs  the  Master  appear  to  disadvantage  in  conversing  upon  this 
unfamiliar  theme  ?  Surely  he  will  decline  to  enter  upon  it ;  he 
will  silently  leave  it  to  the  scribes,  the  men  of  letters,  the  lawyers, 
whose  business  it  is  to  read  all  the  stipulations  and  arrangements 
connected  with  such  a  subject.  He  will  say,  "I  do  not  touch 
those  themes.  I  have  come  for  quite  another  purpose,  and  can- 
not attend  to  such  questionings  as  yours."  Surely  he  might 
have  taken  that  course  with  some  fitness.  What  does  he  do  ? 
He  answers  these  men  as  if  he  had  made  the  question  of  divorce 


CHRIST  ON  DIVORCE.  65 

the  study  of  a  lifetime.  Is  there  no  argument  in  that  fact  ?  Did 
he  require  time  to  consider  the  knotty  question  ?  Did  he  say, 
"  I  would  rather  evade  the  subject;  but  if  you  press  me  to  its 
consideration,  I  must  take  time  to  consult  the  old  black-letter 
law"  ?  They  touched  the  cloud  and  they  evoked  lightning  ;  they 
asked  a  tempting  question  and  drew  upon  themselves,  happily  for 
the  intelligence  and  direction  of  the  world,  a  grand  revelation. 
Let  us  see  how  Jesus  deports  himself  under  such  tempting  interro- 
gations regarding  subjects  which  appear  to  lie  at  an  infinite  dis- 
tance from  the  cross  which  he  came  to  lift  up  into  a  life-tree  and 
a  throne. 

Jesus  Christ  goes  back  to  original  facts  and  laws.  You  cannot 
settle  anything  by  mere  detail.  No  man  can  come  wisely  into  a 
great  controversy  or  a  great  study  at  some  intermediate  point. 
Herein  it  is  that  we  lose  so  much,  and  so  often  stultify  and  disap- 
point ourselves,  by  imagining  that  we  can  come  into  a  case  in 
the  middle  of  it — that  we  can  understand  a  controversy  or  a  dis- 
pute by  looking  at  any  one  solitary  point  in  it.  Jesus  Christ 
here  shows  what  we  have  had  occasion  to  point  out,  that  he  is 
fundamental  in  his  teaching,  original  in  his  conceptions — that  he 
stands  back  at  the  right  point  for  taking  in  the  whole  field  ;  and 
unless  a  man  shall  stand  at  a  proper  distance  from  a  picture  he 
cannot  rightly  view  it,  and  unless  he  shall  stand  at  the  right  point 
in  history  and  in  divine  purpose,  he  cannot  take  in  all  the  firma- 
ment of  God's  light  and  dignity. 

See,  then,  how  Jesus  Christ  does  not  ask  questions  about  par- 
ticular persons  and  particular  circumstances,  but  how  he  goes 
right  back  to  the  origin  and  start  of  things,  and  says  everything 
must  be  judged  by  the  divine  purpose  and  by  the  divine  intent  and 
revelation.  How  grand  he  is,  therefore,  in  moral  tone  !  How 
he  shakes  off  all  vexing  and  petty  details,  and  stands  squarely  and. 
firmly  on  an  eternal  rock  !  How  comes  it  that  we  have  so  much , 
shilly-shallying  in  the  Church  and  various  views  and  little  dis- 
putes, and  narrow  and  vexing  controversies  ?  Simply  because  we 
undertake  to  deal  with  details  instead  of  going  back  to  the  begin- 
ning and  ascertaining,  so  far  as  we  may,  the  clear  purpose  and; 
intent  of  God. 

Having  told  them,  '„'  Have  ye  not  read  that  he  which  made 


66  MATTHEW  XIX. 


them  at  the  beginning,  made  them  male  and  female  ?"  they  said 
unto  him,  "  Why  did  Moses  then  command  to  give  a  writing  of 
divorcement,  and  to  put  her  away  ?"  That  would  puzzle  him  : 
he  was  but  a  peasant.  He  had  not  gone  into  such  knotty  ques- 
tions or  pursued  such  intricate  inquiries  as  these.  Now  he  will 
be  nonplussed,  and  stand  in  humiliating  attitude.  Look  at 
him  :  have  they  smitten  him  dumb  ?  Is  there  no  more  lightning 
in  that  cloud?  Swiftly  he  answers,  "Moses,  because  of  the 
hardness  of  your  hearts,  suffered  you  to  put  away  your  wives,  but 
from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so."  He  knew  all  about  the 
domestic  law  ;  he  was  as  familiar  with  it  as  if  he  had  been  a 
lawyer  for  half  a  century  or  more  ;  he  knew  what  Moses  had  writ- 
ten. He  answered  on  the  spot.  This  was  not  written  after  three 
months'  consideration  :  the  whole  word  was  in  him.  Moses  drew 
the  word  from  him,  and  he  who  was  the  Original  could  best  ac- 
count for  the  transcript. 

Wonderful,  too,  in  point  of  philosophic  grasp  and  moral  sym- 
pathy !  "  Because  of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,  Moses  suffered 
you  to  put  away  your  wives. "  We  have  to  do  some  things  expedi- 
ently ;  we  have  to  make  arrangements  to  meet  peculiar  circum- 
stances. The  divine  law  sometimes  takes  a  singular  bend,  so  to 
say,  in  order  to  gather  up  certain  peculiar  human  circumstances, 
and  otherwise  unmanageable  eccentricities.  Sometimes  the  divine 
law  stoops  to  pick  us  up  and  give  us  another  chance,  for  there  is 
mercy  always  in  supreme  and  complete  righteousness. 

"  But  do  not  mistake,"  said  Christ,  "  a  temporary  arrangement 
for  an  original  purpose.  Do  not  turn  the  exception  into  the  rule. 
Do  not  make  the  subordinate  into  the  supreme.  From  the  begin- 
ning  it  was  not  so."  How  did  he  know?  He  was  the  Begin- 
ning !  "I  am  Alpha  and  Omega  I"  From  the  first  it  was  not 
so.  When  God  made  them  male  and  female,  no  thought  of  a 
divorce  was  in  his  mind  ;  this  \va.s/brced  upon  the  universe  by  the 
blasphemy  of  the  heart,  by  the  impiety,  the  recklessness,  the  vio- 
lence of  that  which  was  almost  divine  at  the  beginning.  This  is 
the  sour  wine,  this  the  spoiled  milk,  this  the  blackness  of  unim- 
aginable sin. 

No  interpretation  can  be  complete  or  profound  which  does  not 
go  back  to  the  beginning.  No  man  can  understand  the  Apocalypse 
who  has  not  read  the  book  of  Genesis.    You  cannot  come  into  the 


ORIGINAL   MEANINGS.  67 

Bible  about  the  middle  of  it,  and  begin  to  form  an  opinion  of  the 
divine  revelation  by  reading  some  of  the  minor  prophets.  Revela- 
tion is  a  whole.  It  has  a  first  word — a  beginning  ;  and  you  must 
begin  with  the  beginning  and  go  steadily  and  calmly  through  the 
whole  unfurlment  of  the  divine  thought,  if  you  would  have  any 
grasp  of  it  that  will  stand  you  in  good  stead  amid  the  temptations 
of  the  Pharisees,  and  amid  the  insinuations  and  malign  assaults 
of  the  enemy. 

Would  we  know  what  man  is  ?  We  must  g0  back  to  the  begin- 
ning. I  cannot  consult  the  anatomist  as  to  what  man  is.  Human 
nature  is  not  a  modern  discovery  ;  the  human  heart  is  not  a  yes- 
terday's trick  in  mechanism.  Man  is  old,  and  I  must  go  back  to 
his  birthday,  and  study  him  from  the  germ,  if  I  can,  that  I  may 
know  his  true  meaning  in  the  universe  of  God.  Would  I  know 
what  the  Sabbath  is  ?  I  must  not  read  some  modern  tract  about 
it,  or  some  recent  attack  upon  it,  nor  must  I  consult  the  conveni- 
ence of  to-day  about  it.  If  I  want  to  know  what  the  Sabbath  is, 
I  must  go  back  to  the  beginning:  and  in  the  beginning  it  was 
God's  day,  God's  rest,  God's  festival,  God's  rounding  off  and 
sphering  out  of  labour  and  creation  and  service  and  sacrifice. 
So  it  must  ever  be,  or  it  ceases  to  be  a  sabbath  day  at  all,  and 
becomes  a  mere  ecclesiastical  expedient  to  be  twisted  thus  and  so 
and  otherwise,  according  to  the  suggestion  of  the  moment.  We 
become  confused  amidst  details  and  cross-workings,  and  the  only 
true  philosophical  way  of  dealing  with  Man,  with  Marriage,  with 
Life,  with  Law,  is  to  go  as  far  back  as  we  can  towards  the  begin- 
ning, that  we  may  take  in  field  enough  and  set  every  object  of  con- 
templation in  its  proper  perspective,  and  bring  to  bear  upon  it  the 
only  light  which  can  reveal  its  proportions. 

So  with  the  idea  of  Sacrifice.  Is  it  not  possible  for  men  to  dis- 
cuss sacrifice  by  beginning  with  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  ?  Do 
not  many  persons  attempt  to  settle  the  question  of  sacrifice  by 
quoting  individual  and  isolated  texts  ?  How  then  shall  I  under- 
stand this  subject  of  sacrifice  ?  By  going  back  to  the  beginning. 
What  was  there  in  the  beginning  ?  This  !  A  Lamb  slain  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  Not  an  after  thought,  not  an  inci- 
dent in  history,  not  something  measurable  by  our  terms  represen- 
tative of  time  ;  but  the  original  thought,  the  heavenly  purpose,  the 
atonement  before  the  sin  !     If  the  Cross  had  only  come  up  as  an 


68  MATTHEW  XIX. 


incident  in  history,  then  Christ's  death  might  have  been  a  mur- 
der ;  but  with  the  shadow  of  the  Cross  flung  across  the  firmament 
from  the  beginning,  we  have  the  mystery  and  the  sanctity  of  sacri- 
fice. Do  not  let  us  suppose,  therefore,  as  Christian  students,  that 
we  can  settle  any  question,  say  even  of  divorce,  or  of  domestic 
life  or  business  relationships  or  church  appointments,  by  coming 
into  it  about  the  middle  or  the  end.  We  can  only  get  the  right 
grip  of  it  and  the  right  look  of  it  by  going  back  to  the  beginning, 
and  setting  ourselves  as  far  as  possible  in  opposition  to  the  revealed 
appointments  of  God.  We  will  return  to  this  after  considering 
the  next  two  incidents. 

In  the  next  incident  there  is  a  very  tender  scene.  Such  a  lily 
is  not  to  be  painted.  They  brought  unto  "him  little  children 
that  he  should  put  his  hands  on  them  and  pray  :" — that  is,  their 
mothers  brought  the  little  children.  Observe,  they  were  brought ; 
they  did  not  come  of  themselves.  Some  of  us  are  carried  to  God, 
some  of  us  are  brought  in  loving  arms  to  Christ.  We  want  to 
bring  all  men  to  Jesus.  You  have  been  sinning  all  these  years, 
and  your  wife  says,  "  I  will  take  him  to  Christ  to-day  in  some 
great  big  prayer  bolder  than  I  have  ever  yet  ventured  to  hurl  at  the 
very  gate  and  throne  of  Heaven.  I  will  carry  him  to-day. "  O 
woman,  grand  heart  !  she  is  going  to  do  it  by  persuasive  violence, 
by  gentle  force.  You,  again,  are  a  black  sheep  in  the  family. 
Your  mother  says  she  will  carry  you  to  Christ ;  she  says  she  will 
believe  for  you  if  he  will  let  her  :  she  has  so  much  faith  she  thinks 
that  she  could  even  include_>w«  in  the  sweep  of  her  trustful  belief. 
O  man,  young  man,  man  of  the  black,  thankless  heart,  think  of 
that  !  She  wants  to  believe  for  you — to  stretch  her  faith  so  that 
it  will  include  both  herself  and  you  !  That  ought  to  melt  you 
into  tears  and  bring  you  broken-heartedly,  with  infinite  contrition, 
to  your  mother  and  to  your  Saviour.  Bring  your  little  children  to 
church,  but  do  not  make  a  burden  or  a  punishment  of  it.  Make 
them  happy  in  the  church — make  the  church  the  very  sunniest 
place  they  can  go  to  :  bring  them,  don't  force  them — draw  them 
by  love  and  by  many  a  promise,  and  let  the  mother  and  the  father 
and  the  preacher  combine  as  often  as  possible  to  make  the  church 
its  own  attraction. 

Why  was  Jesus  so  fond  of  these  little  ones  ?     Did  he  pick  out 


THE    VALUE   OF  LIFE.  69 

all  the  beautiful  children,  and  say,  "  I  would  like  to  touch  that 
one,"  and  "  Do  let  me  speak  to  that  sweet  child"  ?  No  :  that  is 
our  selfishness.  If  you  were  going  to  make  a  home  for  little  chil- 
dren, you  would  take  nobody  into  it,  if  you  could  help  it,  but  the 
pretty  ones.  That  is  not  philanthropy  ;  that  is  selfishness  with  a 
religious  visor  on.  You  gave  the  child  a  shilling,  a  toy,  a  kiss, 
because  it  was  comely.  Ah,  you  gave  yourself  the  toy  ;  you  kissed 
yourself  in  that  mean  act.  What  did  Jesus  do  ?  Sought  out  the 
lost,  and  if  he  gave  one  child  a  sweeter  kiss  and  a  tenderer  em- 
brace than  another,  I  know,  by  what  else  I  have  seen  of  him,  that 
it  was  the  ugly  child,  the  shapeless,  deformed  one,  the  child  that 
had  fewest  friends,  the  little  creature  that  was  cared  least  for.  That 
was  love  :  such  love  was  Christ's. 

But  why  did  he  gather  all  these  little  flowers  to  him  and  bind 
them  to  his  breast  ?  Does  he  give  any  reason  for  this  ?  He  does  : 
"  For  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Oh,  how  he  warmed 
to  that  kingdom  in  every  aspect  of  it  !  When  you  are  in  a  foreign 
land,  and  you  hear  any  one  speaking  English,  you  say,  "  How 
sweet !  how  home-like  !  I  know  that  mother  tongue  ;  I  like  the 
tone  all  the  better  for  hearing  it  in  this  dreary  country,  of  the  lan- 
guage of  which  I  do  not  know  one  word."  And  if  he,  the  Christ 
of  God,  saw  down  here  in  this  rough  climate  any  flower  such  as 
he  had  seen  grow  upon  the  heavenly  slopes,  what  wonder  if  he 
bent  over  it  and  bestowed  upon  it  tenderest  and  fondest  interest. 
This  was  Jesus  Christ's  reason  :  whatever  represented  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  was  precious  to  him  ;  wherever  he  saw  any  trace 
or  hint  of  it  there  he  was  in  the  fulness  of  his  sympathy  and  in  all 
the  tenderness  of  his  music. 

What  was  it  that  Jesus  Christ  loved  in  these  little  ones  ?  He 
loved  the  life.  When  shall  we  come  to  the  proper  conception  of 
that  boundless  term  ?  The  little  ones  lived ;  that  was  enough. 
Society  will  not  allow  you  to  destroy  even  a  child  one  hour  old. 
The  magistrate  and  the  judge  will  lay  severe  hands  upon  you  if 
you  take  away  the  life  of  a  child  that  has  just  breathed.  Why  ? 
It  knows  nothing,  it  can  answer  no  question,  it  can  make  no  ap- 
peal in  words  ;  and  yet  society  rises  up  in  indignation,  with 
flushed  face,  with  clenched  hands,  if  some  poor  woman  should 
stop  the  life  she  feels  can  only  be  a  tragedy,  and  may  possibly 
end  in  hell.      If  the  magistrate  is  so  anxious  about  life,  if  society  is 


7o  MATTHEW  XIX. 


so  protective  of   its  little  ones,  shall  the  church  take  any  lower 
view  ? 

The  next  case  is  not  out  of  keeping  with  the  former.  Then 
came  one  "and  said  unto  him,  Good  Master,  what  good  thing 
shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ?"  What  does  Jesus  Christ 
do  ?  Goes  back  to  the  beginning  as  in  the  two  former  cases — 
God's  purpose  in  the  case  of  divorce,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in 
the  case  of  the  little  children,  and  God  in  the  case  of  this  young 
man.  Jesus  Christ  goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  character, — 
law  ;  Jesus  Christ  goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  law, — the  com- 
mandments. He  treats  nothing  in  mere  detail.  He  will  not  be 
vexed  and  distracted  by  momentary  questions  ;  he  stands  at  the 
fount  and  origin  of  things  and  reads  all  life  in  the  light  of  the 
divine  purpose.  Understand  that  all  the  great  questions  of  human 
life  have  been  answered  from  the  beginning.  The  young  man  pro- 
posed the  question  as  if  some  new  answer  were  about  to  be  given. 
God  has  no  new  answer  to  give  to  any  man.  All  great  questions 
of  the  heart  were  answered  before  the  heart  began  to  speak.  As 
sacrifice  antedated  sin,  so  the  law  antedated  all  character.  Do  not 
imagine  that  God  has  left  all  the  great  questions  of  the  heart  to  be 
inswered  until  now.  AH  questions  have  been  replied  to,  all  light 
has  been  given  that  is  necessary  for  the  beginning  of  our  superior 
and  supreme  education. 

The  young  man  had  kept  all  the  commandments,  and  yet  he 
had  not  kept  one  of  them  !  Is  it  possible  to  be  so  contradictory  ? 
It  is  not  only  possible,  it  is  actual  in  every  life.  We  keep  things 
in  the  letter  and  we  break  them  in  the  spirit.  A  man  may  possi- 
bly be  right  in  letters  and  syllables  beyond  all  just  impeachment, 
and  yet  in  the  spirit  he  may  be  breaking  every  law  which  he  ap- 
parently embodies.  A  man  is  not  necessarily  in  church  when  he 
is  merely  bodily  present  there.  It  is  possible  to  be  in  church  in 
the  body  and  at  the  same  moment  to  be  a  thousand  miles  away 
from  the  altar,  transacting  business  that  has  but  a  very  question- 
able relation  to  the  sanctuary. 

In  all  these  cases  the  disciples  have  something  to  say  ;  and,  as 
usual,  they  belittle  every  occasion.  You  do  not,  I  repeat,  know 
how  grand  Christ  is  as  a  talker  till  you  hear  the  piping,  whining 
voice  of  the  disciples.      You  may  listen  to  Christ  so  much  that  you 


CHRIST'S  VIEW  OF  CHILDREN.  71 


think  every  other  voice  is  as  his  own  in  fulness  and  music,  suggest- 
iveness  and  colour  and  sympathy.  Not  until  you  hear  some  other 
man  speak  do  you  know  how  grand  was  the  voice  of  God's  Christ. 
Now,  let  us  hear  the  disciples  :  their  remarks  will  be  instructive 
by  their  feebleness. 

Having  heard  the  Master  speak  about  divorce,  the  disciples  say 
unto  him,  "  If  the  case  of  the  man  be  so  with  his  wife,  it  is  not 
good  to  marry."  "Fools,"  said  Christ,  "you  do  not  know 
what  you  are  talking  about."  You  cannot  set  aside  the  great 
pressures  of  nature — you  cannot  set  aside  the  original  law  and 
force  of  things.  It  is  not  for  man  to  say,  "  If  that  be  so,  then  I 
think  I  will  do  something  else."  Man  is  caught  within  the  sweep 
of  a  mighty  law,  and  he  cannot  rid  himself  of  the  gravitation  which 
God  has  brought  to  bear  upon  him  to  keep  him  in  his  right  place. 
"  It  is  good  for  a  man  not  to  marry."  It  is  no  such  little  human- 
ity that  Jesus  Christ  came  to  pamper  and  build  up.  Jesus  came  to 
make  men.  God  said,  "  Let  us  make  man  ;"  and,  in  the  doing 
of  that,  he  must  pass  through  a  thousand  trials,  and  fight  his  way 
to  conquest  and  tranquillity. 

Then  the  disciples  intervene  in  the  case  of  the  little  children. 
The  disciples  rebuked  them,  the  disciples  forbade  them,  the  dis- 
ciples severally  and  jointly  shook  their  heads  at  them.  Oh,  how 
these  disciples  do  belittle  whatever  they  touch  !  How  they  throw 
discord  into  the  music  that  was  sweeping  like  a  heaven-filling  wind 
from  the  mouth  of  Christ,  the  great  Revealer  and  Teacher  !  We 
do  too  much  forbidding  work.  There  we  commit  many  grave  er- 
rors, and  set  .up  many  hindrances  in  the  way  of  honest  and  noble 
men.  We  think  that  if  we  put  our  veto  upon  something  we  have 
exercised  a  very  noble  function.  The  church  should  not  love  to 
forbid  so  much  as  to  encourage.  If  the  disciples  could  have  said, 
"  Behold,  little  children  are  being  brought  to  our  King  ;  make 
way,  stand  back  for  the  army  of  the  little  and  the  beautiful,"  they 
would  have  risen  to  something  like  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion. 
But  they  were  afraid  of  noise  ;  they  did  not  like  children  to  cry 
in  church.  As  if  Jesus  Christ  had  committed  to  memory  some 
very  beautiful  literary  piece  as  a  recitation  which  he  was  about  to 
pronounce  to  the  people,  and  he  might  be  hampered,  and  forget 
where  he  was,  and  the  whole  thing  would  be  lost  !  But  he  was 
the  Life.      He  would  have  turned  the  cry  into  a  prayer  ;  he  would 


72  MATTHEW  XIX. 


have  founded  upon  the  child's  unconscious  laughter  some  grand 
hope.  When  shall  we  speak  the  Master's  language  with  the 
Master's  accent? 

The  disciples  intervene  in  the  third  instance.  And  Peter  said, 
' '  Behold,  we  have  forsaken  all,  and  followed  thee  ;  what  shall  we 
have  therefore  ?' '  How  this  man  drags  the  stars  out  of  heaven  and 
tramples  upon  them  !  How  he  debases  the  ideality  of  life,  the 
prophecy  and  the  apocalypse  of  human  being  and  education  ! 
"  We  have  forsaken  all  ;"  and  an  all  it  was  to  forsake — a  few  nets 
that  required  mending,  an  old  boat  that  was  not  seaworthy  :  they 
had  forsaken  ALL  ! 

Have  you  left  all,  and  done  it  with  the  right  motive  and  with  a 
right,  strong,  healthy  heart?  Then  I  promise  you,  in  Christ's 
name,  kingdom  and  honour  enough,  in  so  far  as  the  cause  was 
just  and  the  motive  good. 

How  Jesus  answered  the  man  !  Read  the  twenty-eighth  and 
the  twenty-ninth  verses,  and  you  will  find  a  cataract  of  promise 
and  pledge  and  gift  in  reply  to  a  man  who  had  left  his  broken 
nets  and  his  poor  ship.  Yet  the  thirtieth  verse  says,  "  Remem- 
ber, there  are  many  that  are  first  that  may  be  last,  and  the  last 
may  be  first. "  Do  not  count  upon  all  this  property  you  are  going 
to  have  until  you  have  lived  worthy  of  your  great  vocation.  At 
the  last  you  may  fall,  and  he  who  left  all  at  the  first  with  a  wrong 
motive  may  get  nothing  at  the  last,  and  so  may  be  a  pauper  at  both 
ends. 

Christ  is  equally  great,  whether  in  answering  his  enemies  or  his 
friends.  Bold,  complete,  dignified,  he  answers,  not  as  if  strug- 
gling with  a  problem,  but  as  if  granting  a  revelation  / 


SELECTED   NOTES. 

Verse  7. — The  sphere  of  Law  is  not  the  same  with  that  of  Duty.  Many 
things  are  right,  which  are  not  to  be  sought  by  force  ;  and  many  things 
are  wrong,  which  are  not  to  be  thus  prevented.  Law  may  permit  a 
wrong,  lest  by  prohibiting  it  a  greater  wrong  should  be  produced.  The 
text  of  the  law  was  interpreted  differently  by  the  Jewish  lawyers.  To  the 
question  proposed,  the  school  of  Hillel  said,  Yes  !  and  the  school  of 
Schammai,  No  !     Deut.  xxiv.  1. 


NOTES.  73 

Verse  10.  — This  section  is  peculiar  to  St.  Matthew.  The  same  term  is 
used  both  literally  and  figuratively.  There  were  some  who  might  serve 
men  and  God  better  in  the  unmarried  state  ;  but  only  some. 

Verse  13. — Christ  did  not  baptize  the  children,  and  he  never  baptized 
grown  persons.  He  declared  that  children  shared  with  adults  the  holy 
instruction  and  influence,  the  safety  and  blessedness,  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven.  He  taught  that  they  were  to  be  received  and  recognised  by  his 
disciples,  as  those  to  whom  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  belonged.  And  he 
showed  that  symbolical  services  and  prayers  were  proper  and  profitable 
for  them. 

From  the  arrangement  of  the  three  Evangelists  it  appears  that  this  con- 
versation took  place  in  the  last  journey  to  Jerusalem. 

Verse  16. — The  contents  of  this  division  are  closely  connected,  and  the 
first  three  sections  are  common  to  the  three  Evangelists,  the  last  being 
peculiar  to  St.  Matthew.  In  reply  to  the  question  proposed,  our  Lord 
first  exposes  a  fundamental  error  :  all  good  is  to  be  received  from  God, 
who  only  is  independently  good.  He  then  refers  to  the  rule,  which 
rightly  applied  would  lead  to  the  right  cause.  And  finally  he  points  to 
his  own  example,  which  all  disciples  were  to  follow  in  principle,  and  some 
in  voluntary  poverty. 

Verse  23. — The  disciples  supposed  that  riches  would  be  aids  to,  and 
rewards  in,  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  as  in  earthly  kingdoms  ;  and  they 
were  surprised  to  learn  that  they  were  hindrances,  to  be  surrendered,  not 
sought  for. 

Verse  28. — There  would  be  great  rewards  ;  but  not  of  the  kind  expected, 
nor  according  to  the  supposed  rule.  The  new  creation  is  in  the  future. 
Acts  iii.  21  ;  Rom  viii.  19  ;  2  Peter  iii.  13  ;  Rev.  xxi.  1.  A  similar 
promise  to  the  Apostles  is  found,  Luke  xxii.  30. 


LXXV. 
P  RAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  bless  thee  for  all  special  days  and  sacred  memo- 
ries :  they  come  to  stimulate  and  encourage  us  in  all  holy  things.  We 
have  seen  the  blackness  of  one  day,  its  great  cross  and  all  its  appalling 
solemnity,  and  now  we  stand  in  the  brightness  of  a  cloudless  sky,  rejoic- 
ing that  the  Lord  is  not  in  the  tomb,  but  that  be  is  risen  and  is  our  Priest 
for  evermore.  We  bless  thee  for  seeing  an  open  grave — the  tomb  has 
been  the  great  mystery  of  our  experience,  and  the  great  pain  and  wonder 
of  our  forecast  of  life.  We  knew  not  what  it  was,  but  thou  hast  opened 
it  and  delivered  the  captive  and  set  him  on  high  and  crowned  him  with 
immortality  and  infinite  glory,  and  they  that  are  Christ's  shall  be  brought 
with  him  at  the  last  :  thou  wilt  leave  no  grave  unsearched,  and  thy  jewels 
shall  be  gathered  together.  All  thy  buried  ones  shall  awake  and  arise 
and  come  forth  out  of  the  dust,  and  them  that  sleep  in  Jesus  thou  wilt 
bring  with  him. 

For  all  such  hope  we  bless  thee.  This  is  a  sure  confidence  and  a  source 
of  exceeding  strength.  So  now  we  can  say,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ? 
O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?"  It  was  but  a  moment's  victory,  to  be 
overcome  with  everlasting  conquest,  for  death  is  swallowed  up  and  the 
grave  for  ever  forgotten.  Help  us  to  believe  these  sacred  truths,  to 
treasure  them  in  our  hearts,  to  draw  from  them  inspiration  in  the  time  of 
weakness  and  fear  and  desolation,  so  that  we  may  have  songs  in  the 
night  time  and  know  not  the  pain  and  loneliness  of  orphanage.  Thy  rod 
and  thy  staff  they  comfort  us  ;  thou  holdest  a  great  light  over  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death  ;  thou  dost  deliver  with  mighty  deliverances  all 
who  put  their  whole  trust  in  thy  power  and  wisdom.  This  is  our  joy,  our 
song,  our  unutterable  delight,  our  ineffable  peace.  Lord,  root  us  and 
ground  us  in  these  truths,  and  no  stone  shall  fall  upon  us  but  to  do  us 
good  ;  and  the  coming  of  death  shall  be  the  coming  of  our  deliverer. 

Do  thou  give  us  to  know  the  joy  of  resurrection  in  the  heart.  Raise 
again  every  buried  hope,  revive  every  tender  affection,  give  life  again  to 
all  our  noblest  resolutions  and  purest  ambitions.  May  we,  now  bending 
before  thine  altar,  remember  the  words  of  love  and  loyalty  which  we 
uttered  to  thee  in  the  days  now  far  gone  ;  and;  recalling  every  one  of 
these,  with  tender  recollection  and  fondest  gratitude,  may  we  now  rise 
into  newness  of  life  and  be  clothed  with  ever-enlarged  affection  towards 
thyself  ;  may  our  service  be  stimulated  by  all  that  is  noble  in  our  own 
recollection,  as  well  as  all  that  is  gracious  in  thy  tender  love. 


THE   TEXT.  75 

Grant  blessings  unto  the  homes  which  we  now  represent.  Come  to  every 
life  that  is  here  and  to  every  spirit  that  is  present,  and  reveal  thyself  in 
tender  glory.  Thou  wilt  not  dazzle  us  with  intolerable  light  :  thou  wilt 
shine  upon  us  with  subdued  splendour,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  bear  the 
revelation  and  enjoy  it,  and  feel  in  its  warmth  the  prophecy  of  a  still 
broader  and  warmer  summer.  Deliver  us  from  all  evil,  we  humbly  pray 
thee,  in  the  name  and  strength  of  him  who  to-day  rose  again  from  the 
dead.  May  his  power  be  in  our  hearts,  may  his  grace  rule  our  spirits, 
may  his  love  be  the  secret  of  our  devotion  and  the  defence  of  our  char- 
acter— may  we  in  all  things  seek  to  glorify  Christ,  and  to  have  no  other 
purpose  or  ambition  in  the  world. 

For  all  thy  tender  care  our  life  long  we  bless  thee.  Our  first  breath 
was  thine,  our  last  thou  wilt  take  unto  thyself  ;  and  all  the  days  between 
thou  wilt  make  precious  by  thy  presence  and  memorable  by  thy  redemp- 
tions and  deliverances.  Give  us  confidence,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  in 
these  solemn  land  gracious  truths — then  shall  our  hearts  be  quiet  and  shall 
cease  from  fear,  and  our  life  shall  be  profoundest  peace. 

Let  thy  blessing  rest  upon  the  land.  God  save  the  Queen,  spare  her 
life  and  increase  her  comfort  and  her  joy.  Direct  all  who  lead  our  senti- 
ment, and  give  us  our  attitude  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Be  with 
all  great  men,  with  all  rulers,  judges,  magistrates,  and  persons  in 
authority,  with  all  who  direct  our  thinking  and  lead  our  sentiment,  and 
grant  unto  every  man  the  assurance  that  his  work  is  blest  from  on  high. 
Disappoint  those  whose  hearts  are  set  on  mischief,  overrule  events  upon 
which  we  can  exercise  no  decisive  control,  unfold  our  life  unto  us  day  by 
day,  keep  us  from  all  impatience  and  impious  curiosity,  subdue  within  us 
the  penetration  that  would  spoil  thy  secrecy  and  transgress  the  mysteries 
of  thy  government  ;  give  us  a  holy  resignation,  a  spirit  of  waiting,  a  calm 
assurance  of  faith,  and  the  end  shall  see  the  meaning  of  it  all,  and  in 
doing  so  thou  wilt  increase  our  love  and  heighten  our  song.     Amen. 

Matthew  xx.  1-16. 

1.  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an  house- 
holder, which  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire  labourers  into  his 
vineyard. 

2.  And  when  he  had  agreed  with  the  labourers  for  a  penny  a  day,  he 
sent  them  into  his  vineyard. 

3.  And  he  went  out  about  the  third  hour,  and  saw  others  standing  idle 
in  the  market-place, 

4.  And  said  unto  them,  Go  ye  also  into  the  vineyard,  and  whatsoever 
is  right,  I  will  give  you.     And  they  went  their  way. 

5.  Again  he  went  out  about  the  sixth  and  ninth  hour,  and  did  likewise. 

6.  And  about  the  eleventh  hour  he  went  out,  and  found  others  stand- 
ing idle,  and  saith  unto  them,  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ? 

7.  They  say  unto  him,  Because  no  man  hath  hired  us.     He  saith  unto 


76  MATTHEW  XX.  1-16. 

them,  Go  ye  also  into  the  vineyard  ;  and  whatsoever  is  right,  that  shall 
ye  receive. 

8.  So  when  even  was  come,  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  saith  unto  his 
steward,  Call  the  labourers,  and  give  them  their  hire,  beginning  from  the 
last  unto  the  first. 

9.  And  when  they  came  that  were  hired  about  the  eleventh  hour,  they 
received  every  man  a  penny. 

10.  But  when  the  first  came,  they  supposed  that  they  should  have 
received  more  ;  and  they  likewise  received  every  man  a  penny. 

11.  And  when  they  had  received  it,  they  murmured  against  the  good- 
man  of  the  house, 

12.  Saying,  These  last  have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and  thou  hast  made 
them  equal  unto  us,  which  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day. 

13.  But  he  answered  one  of  them,  and  said,  Friend,  I  do  thee  no 
wrong  :  didst  not  thou  agree  with  me  for  a  penny  ? 

14.  Take  that  thine  is,  and  go  thy  way  ;  I  will  give  unto  this  last,  even 
as  unto  thee. 

15.  Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?  Is  thine 
eye  evil,  because  I  am  good  ? 

16.  So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last  :  for  many  be  called,  but 
few  chosen. 


THE  LARGER  JUSTICE. 

WE  cannot  understand  this  parable  by  itself  :  it  is  the  puz- 
zle of  all  persons  who  come  upon  it  without  paying  any 
attention  to  the  circumstances  which  led  up  to  it.  You  see  from 
the  grammatical  construction  of  the  first  verse  that  this  parable 
belongs  to  something  else — "  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like 
unto."  We  must  therefore  ask,  What  has  given  occasion  to  this 
method  of  presenting  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ?  Peter  had  put  a 
selfish  question.  Having  heard  Christ's  speech  about  the  rich 
man  and  his  infinite  difficulty  in  entering  into  the  kingdom  of 
God,  Peter  said  to  Jesus,  "  Behold,  we  have  forsaken  all,  and 
followed  thee  ;  what  shall  we  have  therefore  ?' '  He  wanted  his 
Christianity  Xo  pay,  his  eye  was  wandering  in  the  direction  of  re- 
sults, he  wanted  the  quid  pro  quo.  Now  the  parable  was  meant  to 
show  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not  founded  upon  rules  of 
barter  :  it  is  like  unto  a  householder  who  proceeded  upon  a  larger 
principle  than  had  yet  been  tried,  a  principle  which  created  antag- 
onism at  first,  but  which  in  the  end  vindicated  itself. 

Looking  at  this  parable  within  its  own  limits,  looking  at  it  from 


THE  REWARD  FOR  ALL.  77 

a  mere  trade  point  of  view,  regarding  it  in  the  light  of  what  we 
call  political  economy,  it  is  absurd  ;  it  touches  the  sense  of  justice 
very  sharply  in  every  man,  and  we  are  prepared  to  stand  beside 
those  who  complain,  and  to  say  that  they  have  a  strong  point  in 
their  favour.  But  the  whole  object  of  the  parable  is  to  show  that 
there  is  to  be  no  bargaining  about  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  it  is 
not  a  question  of  time,  of  pennies,  of  understandings  and  cove- 
nants that  can  be  measured  in  the  market-place.  By  this  parable 
Jesus  Christ  lifts  the  kingdom  of  heaven  right  away  above  all  trade 
considerations  and  all  economical  criticisms,  making  a  new  thing 
of  it  altogether,  and  carrying  itself  up  into  a  larger  and  completer 
justice  than  could  be  measured  by  our  arithmetics  and  reckonings 
and  commercial  laws.  God  has  one  reward  for  all — he  gives  to 
every  man  a  penny — the  last  is  as  enriched  as  the  first,  and  the 
first  as  the  last — so  it  seems  to  be.  Yet  it  is  not  so.  Jesus  here 
takes  delight  in  confounding  us,  utterly  turning  upside  down  all 
our  favourite  calculations  and  canons  of  justice  and  rules  of  barter. 
From  end  to  end  he  upsets  our  regulations  and  calculations,  and 
it  was  his  delight  to  do  so,  to  mystify  and  bewilder  us,  and  to 
bring  in  a  householder  who  contradicted  every  rule  of  every  trade 
and  every  instinct  of  limited  justice. 

Has  God  only  one  reward  for  all  ?  So  in  very  deed  it  would 
seem  from  this  parable.  Do  you  tell  me  that  the  martyrs  who 
went  up  to  heaven  in  chariots  of  fire  shall  have  no  more  than  the 
child  that  died  in  its  mother's  arms  with  a  believing  prayer,  who 
had  never  encountered  one  difficulty  or  endured  one  great  trial  for 
Christ  ?  Has  the  martyr  a  penny  and  the  child  a  penny  equally  ? 
Shall  the  old  worn-out  missionary,  who  has  gone  to  heathen  lands 
and  suffered  all  the  dangers  of  travel  and  the  perils  of  climate,  and 
all  the  difficulties  of  strange  relationship) — shall  he  have  no  more 
than  the  man  who  has  never  gone  out  of  his  own  country,  but 
who  has  enjoyed  Christianity  as  presented  by  and  defended  by  the 
highest  and  richest  civilisation  of  his  day  ?  Has  each  to  have  but 
the  bare  penny  ?  So  it  would  seem  on  the  face  of  this  parable, 
and  yet  there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  that  representation.  The 
martyr,  and  the  man  who  has  died  in  what  may  be  called  the  lux- 
ury of  Christianity,  catinot  have  the  same  in  reality,  though  they 
may  have  the  same  in  mere  denomination  of  quantity. 


78  MATTHEW  XX.  1-16. 

Therein  is  a  mystery  easy  of  explanation,  not,  perhaps,  easy  to 
be  set  out  in  so  many  words  ;  but  the  martyr  and  the  non-martyr, 
each  receiving  his  penny,  have  not  received  the  same,  except  in 
mere  nominal  value.  We  are  rewarded  as  we  go.  We  get  a  vic- 
tory in  every  fight,  we  have  a  heaven  every  sunset  ;  we  are  paid  by 
the  hour,  by  the  moment,  by  the  breathing.  We  get  what  we- 
can  receive,  we  are  rewarded  according  to  our  capacity,  and  we  are 
not  at  liberty,  according  to  this  parable,  to  estimate  things  by 
hours  and  by  pennies  and  by  time  spent,  but  by  another  law 
which  comes  into  revelation  and  operation  oftentimes  beyond  the 
limits  of  mere  words,  so  that  we  cannot  explain  the  law  to  a  man 
who  has  not  actually  lived  under  its  beneficent  operation. 

God  will  not  have  our  calculations  in  the  church.  He  says  the 
first  shall  be  last  and  the  last  first — what  does  he  mean  ?  Does 
he  mean,  in  a  merely  literal  sense,  that  he  will  put  Judas  in  the 
place  of  Peter  and  Peter  in  the  place  of  Judas,  and  thus  perform  a 
little  fantastic  trick  in  arrangement  and  gradation  in  his  kingdom  ? 
No.  What,  then,  does  he  mean  ?  To  expel  the  whole  system  of 
reckoning  from  his  church — to  banish  arithmetic,  and  all  that 
little,  dwarfed,  mistaken  reasoning  that  pretends  to  say  how  things 
should  be  in  the  eternal  sphere.  He  takes  your,  arithmetic  out  of 
your  hand,  and  says,  "  Make  no  use  of  this  in  the  church."  He 
takes  your  dried-up,  desiccated  reason,  that  adds  two  and  two,  and 
says  they  make  four,  and  he  says,  ' '  They  do  not,  in  the  church  : 
such  reckoning  in  the  market-place  may  be  right  enough,  but  in 
the  church  none  of  your  two-and-two  reasoning  ;  another  law, 
wider  and  higher,  and  all-comprehending,  must  rule  the  spirit  and 
the  administration  of  things  Christian."  How,  then,  we  are 
snuffed  out,  and  how  our  knuckles  are  rapped  by  the  iron  rod, 
and  how  we  are  beaten  back  when  we  come  to  reckon  up  things 
by  numbers  and  gradations  and  appointments,  and  all  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  Heavenly  hierarchy  !  We  are  reasoning  by  arithmetic, 
and  Christ  says,  "  He  who  has  worked  from  sunrise  to  sundown 
shall  have  a  penny  :  he  who  has  worked  only  one  hour  towards 
the  westering  of  the  sun  shall  have  a  penny.  The  first  shall  be 
last  and  the  last  first."  He  takes  delight  in  confounding  our 
reckoning  and  making  confusion  of  our  mighty  reasonings.  If  he 
did  so  in  this  parable  only,  it  might  be  difficult  to  maintain  the 
position,  but  it  is  the  rule  of  his  universe.     Thus  you  say  it  was 


A    WIDER  REVELATION.  79 

unjust  on  the  part  of  the  man  to  give  those  labourers  who  came  in 
at  the  eleventh  hour  as  much  as  was  given  to  those  labourers  who 
went  out  early  in  the  morning.  Are  you  sure  that  your  notion  of 
the  word  just  is  right?  May  not  the  word  "just"  be  a  larger 
word  than  you  have  yet  realized  ?  May  we  not  need  larger  and 
truer  definitions  of  common  terms  in  order  to  enable  us  to  rise  to 
the  height  of  these  great  Christian  arguments  ?  Consider  whether 
there  is   not  a  point  in  that  suggestion. 

But  see,  and  tell  me  how  your  idea  of  "  just"  vindicates  itself 
under  such  circumstances  as  these.  Here  is  a  child  a  day  old,  and 
that  child  is  tainted  with  a  disease  for  which  itself  is  in  no  degree 
accountable.  Its  life  will  be  a  pain,  its  days  will  be  a  burden,  its 
future  will  be  a  cloud,  and  yet  the  little  one  is  in  no  degree  re- 
sponsible for  the  tremendous  and  insufferable  infliction  under 
which  it  groans.  Is  that  just  ?  And  yet  it  is  a  fact.  God  will 
not  accept  our  little  ideas  of  justice  :  he  always  rebukes  them. 
They  are  too  narrow,  they  are  too  shallow,  they  do  not  bring  in 
all  the  terms  and  elements  which  belong  to  the  subject.  We  see 
within  the  limits  of  a  day,  we  draw  a  little  circle  around  us,  and  ' 
call  that  little  circumference  the  sum-total  of  all  things.  God  will 
show  us  a  wider  revelation  some  day  :  he  will  give  us  a  right  scale 
of  measurement,  and  then  we  shall  know  that  what  we  thought 
was  injustice  was  but  one  section  of  a  grand  whole.  He  will 
"  vindicate  eternal  providence  and  justify  his  ways  to  men." 

Take,  again,  the  notion  of  sin  and  everlasting  punishment,  and 
see  the  very  principle  of  this  parable  in  active  operation  there. 
Let  the  case  stand  thus.  Take  what  notion  you  please  of  the 
words  "  everlasting  punishment," — let  them  mean  everlasting 
destruction,  complete  annihilation,  or  eternal  torment ;  the  defini- 
tion of  these  terms  has  no  relattion  to  what  I  am  now  about  to 
say — but  take  them  in  any  sense,  and  then  answer  whether  it  is 
just  that  a  man  wno  has  lived  a  few  years  in  a  world  he  never 
asked  to  come  into,  and  who  has  sinned  those  few  years  all  through, 
staining  every  moment  of  them  with  blackness — what  are  the 
moments  but  a  handful,  what  are  the  days  but  a  sharp  sudden 
breathing  and  all  is  over,  a  spasm  and  the  life  is  forgotten — and 
yet  for  these  few  days'  sinning  he  shall  be  thrust  into  a  lake  of 
fire,  shut  up  there  for  ever  to  burn  in  eternal  consciousness  of 
pain,  or  shall  be  snuffed,  obliterated  out  of  the  universe,  or  shall 


So  MATTHEW  XX.  1-16. 

die  a  lingering  and  painful  death  in  some  hidden  hell  ?  Where  is 
the  proportion  P    There  is  none. 

The  parable  is  written  upon  all  the  economies  of  God's  admin- 
istration. If  it  were  a  question  of  arithmetic,  a  question  of  quid 
pro  quo — thus  much  sin  and  thus  much  punishment — there  could 
be  no  proportion  between  the  sin  possible  to  a  man  in  all  his 
seventy  years  if  he  never  slept  an  hour,  if  he  cursed  God  in  every 
throbbing  moment  of  the  seventy  years — there  could  be  no  pro- 
portion between  that  short  blasphemy  and  infinite  duration  of 
penalty.  So  the  Lord  teaches  us  in  this  parable  that  we  must  not 
begin  to  reckon,  and  to  audit  God's  ways,  and  to  carry  forward 
sums,  and  bring  up  additions,  and  make  an  arithmetical  calcula- 
tion of  his  providence  and  his  way.  The  first  shall  be  last  and  the 
last  first — the  missionary  shall  have  nominally  as  much  as  the  man 
who  never  went  from  home,  and  the  martyr  shall  have  the  same 
penny  in  mere  name  that  is  given  to  the  man  who  lived  a  life  of 
Christian  ease,  useful  enough  within  its  own  limits,  but  without 
one  pang  of  martyr  fear,  without  one  throb  of  martyr  suffering. 

So  the  parable  is  not  written  here  once  for  all.  It  is  the  parable 
of  the  universe,  it  is  the  mystery  of  providence  ;  it  shows  itself  as 
vividly  in  the  higher  and  nobler  aspect  of  reward  as  in  the  aspect 
of  punishment.  What  relation,  arithmetical  or  statistical,  is  there 
between  believing  and  eternal  life  ?  Some  men  seem  as  if  they 
could  not  help  believing.  It  comes,  in  a  sense  hardly  to  be  ex- 
plained, natural  to  them  to  go  to  church  and  to  believe  and  to  be 
good.  They  seem  to  have  no  individual  Devil  that  tears  their  life 
in  twain  every  day,  that  blows  away  with  hot  hell-breath  their  de- 
votional breathings  at  the  throne  of  the  heavenly  grace.  They  are 
not  tortured,  torn,  mangled,  pursued,  but  they  fall  with  easy  grace 
into  ways  that  are  good.  What  relation  is  there  between  their 
believing  and  eternal  honour,  Heavenly  paradises,  celestial  inheri- 
tances, immeasurable  duration  of  bliss  ?  Why,  if  they  had 
believed  the  moment  they  breathed,  and  if  they  had  been  singing 
hymns  all  their  life,  and  doing  deeds  of  charity  through  all  the 
cycle  of  the  seventy  years,  what  relation  could  there  possibly  be 
between  seventy  years,  how  crowned  soever  with  service  and  sacri- 
fice, and  innumerable  millions  of  ages  of  reward  ?  There  is  no 
relation.  You  cannot  find  out  God  to  perfection  in  this  matter, 
you  cannot  search  him  with  arithmetic,  you  cannot  make  his  ways 


\ 


ADMINISTRATION    OF  MERCY. 


equal  by  statistical  schedules,  your  barter  laws  are  not  known  here.  ^ 
This  is  the  great  mystery  of  life — a  revelation  of  a  wider  justice,  a 
glimpse  of  an  infinite  administration  that  will  not  stop  to  be  meas- 
ured by  the  measurements  of  sense  and  time,  and  our  dwarfed   f 
and  crippled  justice. 

Jesus  never  departs  from  the  spirit  of  this  parable.  Wherever  v' 
we  find  him,  he  is  living  this  parable  out.  Thus  :  "  How  oft 
shall  my  brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive  him  ?"  Peter  will 
be  arithmetical  ;  he  will  have  two  sines  in  his  book  ;  he  is  deter- 
mined to  reduce  everything  to  logarithms  :  "  How  oft  shall  my 
brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive  him  ?' '  and  in  some  mood 
of  charity,  very  sublime  to  him,  he  says,  suggestively,  "  until  seven 
times?"  Jesus  anticipates  this  very  parable,  condenses  it  into  a 
sentence,  says,  "  Until  seventy  times  seven."  What  is  the  mean- 
ing of  that  representation  ?  The  evident  meaning  is  that  there  is 
to  be  no  arithmetic  in  the  church,  no  reckoning  by  numbers,  no  ifi 
algebraic  symbol  representing  numerical  value,  no  sign  for  ' '  equal 
to"  in  all  the  reckoning  of  the  church.  Thus  is  the  justice  of  God 
evidently  displayed  on  the  one  side  of  life  as  manifestly  as  on  the 
other,  for  he  himself  will  not  take  a  cup  of  cold  water  without  giv- 
ing back  a  cup  of  wine  for  it.  Where  is  the  relation  arithmetical  ? 
There  is  none.  He  himself  will  not  be  sick  and  imprisoned  and 
visited  without  giving  all  heaven  in  return.  Where  is  the  barter 
equality  ?     There  is  none. 

These  reflections  lead  up  to  the  still  grander  thought  that  reason    Y 
as  such,  in  its  carnal  limitations  and  possibilities,  has  no  place  in 
the  inner  and  upper  sanctuary  of  divine  purpose  and  thought. 
There  we  live  by  faith,  there  we  say,  "  Not  my  reason  be  done,  but 
thy  justice — not  my  will  but  thine  be  done." 

So,  then,  we  do  the  work  without  any  reference  to  the  reward.  ^ 
You  who  came  to  Christ  full  fifty  years  ago  will  have  your  penny 
— as  well  as  the  dying  thief  that  had  to  bring  only  yesternight  one 
foot  out  of  hell.  Will,  you,  then,  be  placed  on  equal  terms  ?  It 
never  can  be  so.  Can  a  man  of  fine  capacity  and  mind  go  along 
any  road  and  have  as  the  result  of  his  walking  only  that  which  the 
common  clodhopper  has,  who  "  thought  the  moon  no  bigger  than 
his  father's  shield,  and  the  visual  line  that  girt  him  round  the  world's 
extreme"  ?     Have  they  both  equal  enjoyment  out  of  the  same  cir- 


82  MATTHEW  XX.  1-16. 

cumstances  ?  It  is  impossible.  The  walk  to  the  philosopher  is  a 
walk  in  church,  a  climbing  up  the  altar  stairs.  He  sees  angels, 
he  hears  voices,  he  is  touched  by  reverences,  he  is  in  the  presence 
and  sanctuary  of  God.  Yet  the  road  the  same,  the  day  the  same 
— the  road  through  a  garden,  the  day  the  queenliest  in  all  the 
summer  train,  yet  in  that  walk  one  man  found  heaven,  the  other 
only  a  convenient  road  to  a  place  to  sleep  in. 

So  with  Christian  service.  We  get  out  of  it  according  to  our 
capacity.  We  are  rewarded  by  the  work  itself,  and  we  are  to  enter 
into  it  in  the  spirit  of  love,  and  in  no  other  spirit.  Yet  ye  say  the 
way  of  the  Lord  is  not  equal.  Judging  him  by  this  parable  you 
would  come  to  false  conclusions  about  the  law  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  The  teaching  of  the  parable  is  this  ;  no  reckoning  in 
numbers,  no  clever  schedule-making  in  the  church,  no  compara- 
tive statistics — banish  the  whole  of  them,  and  live  in  love.  Beware 
of  the  statistician  in  the  church  :  he  will  mislead  you,  though  he 
says  he  takes  the  prose  of  facts.  Facts  may  be  so  represented  as 
to  be  lies.  The  statist  tells  me  that  our  service  last  year  amounted 
to,  say,  ten  thousand,  and  our  service  this  year  amounts  to,  say, 
two  thousand,  therefore  he  says  we  have  gone  down.  He  seems 
to  have  right  upon  his  side  :  people  say  you  cannot  quarrel  with 
figures.  Within  given  limits  that  statement  is  perfectly  true,  but 
the  limits  themselves  are  wrong.  Within  given  limits  the  earth 
stands  still,  and  yet  the  earth  never  pauses  for  one  moment.  Within 
given  lirhits  you  can  draw  a  straight  line  upon  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  yet,  really  and  truly,  no  line  upon  a  globe  can  be  straight.  I 
must  therefore  go  further  in  my  judgment,  and  ask  under  what  cir- 
cumstances the  two  thousand  was  realized  ?  Circumstances  of  great 
depression,  circumstances  of  great  trial  and  trouble,  circumstances 
that  made  strong  men  tremble,  and  hopeful  men  begin  to  feel  the 
coldness  of  a  great  fear,  and  under  those  circumstances  the  result 
was  two  thousand.  Under  what  circumstances  the  ten  thousand  ? 
Summer  all  the  year  round  :  the  earth  but  touched,  and  she  laughed 
in  flowers  and  in  fruits  ;  the  hand  but  put  out,  and  it  brought  back 
riches.  Then  the  two  thousand  are  more  than  the  ten  !  The 
first  shall  be  last  and  the  last  first  ! 

Let  God  be  judge,  and  banish  foolish  talk  about  the  eleventh 
hour,  and  the  first  hour,  and  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  and 
the  penny  given  to  each  and  all  alike.  You  can  make  a  tale  of 
-distress  out  of  it,  but  in  the  soul  of  it  God  will  justify  himself. 


LXXVI. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  how  can  we  bless  thee  for  this  Jesus  Christ,  who 
speaks  of  himself  as  the  Son  of  Man  ?  Thus  would  he  come  very  nearly 
to  us  ;  calling  himself  the  Son  of  God  he  stands  away,  but  calling  himself 
the  Son  of  Man  we  feel  his  infinite  strength  drawing  us  into  his  own 
security.  We  bless  thee  every  day  for  the  sweetest  name  of  Jesus  :  it 
makes  the  days  bright  and  warm,  it  brings  the  summer  of  Heaven  upon 
all  the  lands  of  time,  it  makes  us  glad  in  the  night  season,  and  rapturous 
in  the  valley.  We  thank  thee  for  the  cross  :  so  ghastly,  indeed,  and  yet 
so  winsome  :  having  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  it,  and  yet  growing 
up  out  of  its  black  root  into  infinite  blossoming  and  beauty  and  fruitful- 
ness,  the  very  tree  of  life  set  in  the  midst  of  the  nations.  Sacred  cross, 
holy  thing,  made  by  man  but  accepted  by  God.  As  thou  didst  turn  the 
bread  into  flesh  and  the  wine  into  blood,  so  hast  thou  turned  the  barren 
wood  into  a  great  living  tree. 

Thou  dost  turn  all  things  to  higher  uses.  Behold  what  manner  of  love 
thou  hast  bestowed  even  upon  us  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of 
God.  And  it  doth  not  appear  what  we  shall  be  :  thou  dost  not  reveal  our 
whole  future  to  us  in  one  great  breadth  of  outlook,  but  day  by  day,  yea, 
moment  by  moment,  dost  thou  come  to  us  with  some  new  revealment, 
some  unexpected  light,  some  uncomprehended  beauty.  Thou  art  able  to 
do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think  :  as  the  Heaven 
is  high  above  the  earth,  so  are  thy  thoughts  higher  than  our  thoughts. 
We  are  lame  and  blind,  we  are  withered  and  dead  :  thou  must  do  the 
whole  miracle,  we  cannot  even  pray  thee  to  do  it,  we  can  but  ask  thee 
dumbly,  in  the  extremity  of  our  helplessness,  to  do  what  thou  wilt  of  thy 
clemency. 

Thou  always  hast  compassion.  God  is  love — Jesus  wept.  Jesus,  Son 
of  Man,  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  on  us.  We  would  be  good,  and  oh, 
thou  knowest  how  subtle  is  the  enemy  and  how  hard  the  road.  Our 
hearts  leap  up  in  great  prayers  and  our  lives  yearn  oftentimes  to  become 
holy  sacrifices  unto  God,  and  yet  our  prayer  is  stopped  ere  it  reach  thee, 
and  our  life  is  killed  before  it  reach  the  altar.  Yet  thou  knowest  it  all, 
there  is  no  surprise  in  Heaven  :  thou  dost  understand  our  constitution, 
thou  knowest  that  we  are  but  dust,  a  wind  that  cometh  for  a  little  time 
and  then  passeth  away.  What  is  our  life  ?  It  is  a  vapour,  dying  whilst 
it  burns  and  flickers  in  the  air.  Our  breath  is  in  our  nostrils,  we  are 
tottering  to  the  tomb,  we  are  gropers  in  the  darkness,  and  yet  there  are 


84  MATTHEW  XX.  17-34. 


in  us  passions  and  impulses,  strange  forces  that  terrify  us  by  their  energy 
and  their  ardour.  Surely  we  shall  see  the  time  of  revelation,  and  enjoy 
the  all-brightening  light,  and  know  why  we  are  and  what  we  are,  and  out 
of  all  the  retrospect  we  shall  gather  some  grand  new  hymn  ineffable  in 
sweetness,  eternal  in  gratitude. 

Look  upon  us,  poor  bruised  ones  :  we  have  come  back  from  the  week's 
fight  and  we  are  tired  :  we  have  left  the  week's  business  and  we  would 
think  awhile  of  Heaven.  We  have  left  behind  us  all  that  could  bring 
down  our  whole  soul  to  the  earth,  that  we  might  look  up  from  this  place 
of  the  altar  to  the  great  heights,  and  inhale  the  very'air  of  heaven.  Pity 
us  :  carry  the  lambs  in  thy  bosom,  give  special  grace  and  uplifting  of 
heart  and  hope  to  the  man  who  wants  to  be  better,  and  who  dreads  the 
return  of  the  curse  that  slays  him.  Give  light  that  shall  be  as  a  revela- 
tion from  God  to  the  child  doomed  to  daily  embarrassment  and  perplexity 
teach  those  who  have  knocked  at  the  door  and  had  no  answer  to  knock 
again,  and  whilst  they  stand  on  the  outside  do  thou  speak  comfortably  to 
their  waiting  hearts. 

The  Lord  heal  the  sick,  and  be  pitiful  to  those  who  have  no  friends, 
and  come  in  by  every  door  and  window  to  the  houses  where  sits  the  black 
desolation.  Give  the  young  chastening  suited  to  the  enthusiasm  of  the 
moment  :  thou  wilt  not  blow  out  the  light  of  their  hope,  thou  wilt  rather 
watch  it  and  rekindle  it  and  give  it  strengthening,  till  it  shall  fulfil  its 
type  in  all  the  glory  of  the  final  revelation. 

Look  at  those  who  are  just  going  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  happiness,  and 
are  afraid  it  will  never  reach  ihe  lip.  Lord,  help  them  to  drink  deeply, 
for  their  life  has  been  a  weary  one,  and  one  draught  of  gladness  will  to- 
day lift  them  up  into  ecstasy.  Be  with  our  dear  ones  who  are  not  here — 
in  the  sick  chamber,  in  the  nursery,  in  the  place  of  sad  solitude,  on  the 
great  sea,  far  away  in  the  other  countries  of  the  globe — building  up  their 
homes,  and  blessing  their  firesides. 

The  Lord  unite  us  in  the  indissoluble  fellowship  of  sympathy  with  the 
heart  of  Christ  :  wash  us  in  his  dear  blood,  precious  blood,  blood  of  sacri- 
fice, blood  of  atonement.     Amen. 

Matthew  xx.  17-34. 

17.  And  Jesus  going  up  to  Jerusalem  took  the  twelve  disciples  apart  in 
the  way,  and  said  unto  them, 

18.  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  be- 
trayed unto  the  chief  priests  and  unto  the  scribes,  and  they  shall  condemn 
him  to  death, 

19.  And  shall  deliver  him  to  the  Gentiles  to  mock,  and  to  scourge,  and 
to  crucify  him  :  and  the  third  day  he  shall  rise  again. 

20.  Then  came  to  him  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  with  her  sons, 
worshipping  him,  and  desiring  a  certain  thing  of  him. 

21.  And  he  said  unto  her,  What  wilt  thou  ?     She  saith  unto  him,  Grant 


THE  PLAN   OF  LIFE.  85 

that  these  my  two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  the  other 
on  the  left,  in  thy  kingdom. 

22.  But  Jesus  answered  and  said,  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask.  Are  ye 
able  to  drink  of  the  cup  that  I  shall  drink  of,  and  to  be  baptized  with  the 
baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with  ?    They  say  unto  him,  We  are  able. 

23.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Ye  shall  drink  indeed  of  my  cup,  and  be 
baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with  :  but  to  sit  on  my  right 
hand  and  on  my  left,  is  not  mine  to  give,  but  it  shall  be  given  to  them  for 
whom  it  is  prepared  of  my  Father. 

24.  And  when  the  ten  heard  it,  they  were  moved  with  indignation 
against  the  two  brethren. 

25.  But  Jesus  called  them  unto  him,  and  said,  Ye  know  that  the  princes 
of  the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  and  they  that  are  great  exer- 
cise authority  upon  them. 

26.  But  it  shall  not  be  so  among  you  :  but  whosoever  will  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister  ; 

27.  And  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant : 

28.  Even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many. 

29.  And  as  they  departed  from  Jericho,  a  great  multitude  followed  him. 

30.  And,  behold,  two  blind  men  sitting  by  the  way  side,  when  they 
heard  that  Jesus  passed  by,  cried  out,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  us,  O  Lord, 
thou  son  of  David. 

31.  And  the  multitude  rebuked  them,  because  they  should  hold  their 
peace  :  but  they  cried  the  more,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  us,  O  Lord,  thou 
son  of  David. 

32.  And  Jesus  stood  still,  and  called  them,  and  said,  What  will  ye  that 
I  shall  do  unto  you  ? 

33.  They  say  unto  him,  Lord,  that  our  eyes  may  be  opened. 

34.  So  Jesus  had  compassion  on  them,  and  touched  their  eyes  :  and 
immediately  their  eyes  received  sight,  and  they  followed  him. 

THE   PLAN    OF   LIFE. 

HE  had  told  them  this  before  :  he  had  indeed  nothing  else  to 
tell  them.  Whatever  else  he  said  belonged  to  this  pathetic 
and  sublime  revelation,  and  was,  as  compared  with  it,  but  as  the 
small  dust  of  the  balance.  Look  what  a  plan  this  is.  Life  is  a 
plan — you  will  have  trouble  and  grievous  unrest  and  dreams  that 
will  plague  you  like  enemies  at  night,  if  you  do  not  seize  the  all- 
restful  idea  that  life  is  not  a  game  of  chance,  but  a  Divine  plan. 
The  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered  :  not  a  sparrow 
falleth  to  the  ground  without  your  Father.  Your  troubles  are  all 
reckoned,   your  tears  are  all  numbered.     The  valleys  that  you 


86  MATTHEW  XX.  17-34. 

would  not  have  on  the  road  were  all  excavated  by  the  Divine  hand. 
Every  controversy,  every  cross  wind,  every  cold  steep  climb  up  the 
barren  rocks — all  is  included,  fore-appointed,  and  is  part  of  the 
Divine  purpose.  There  hath  no  temptation  befallen  you  but  such 
as  is  common  to  man.  With  every  temptation  God  will  make  a 
way  of  escape.  Brethren,  count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers 
temptations,  for  every  trial  has  its  own  purpose  and  its  own  sweet 
outcome.  He  knoweth  the  way  that  I  take,  and  when  he  hath 
tried  me  he  will  bring  me  forth  as  gold.  This  verse  has  about  it 
all  the  beauty  and  massiveness  of  an  architectural  fabric  :  it  is  not 
a  heap  of  loose  stones,  it  is  a  building  with  shape  and  polish  and 
high  utility.     So  is  your  life. 

Why  then  this  restlessness  and  feverishness  and  miserable  dis- 
content ?  All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God.  Fear  not,  little  flock  :  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to 
give  you  the  kingdom.  Nevertheless  the  foundation  of  God 
standeth  sure,  having  this  seal,  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are 
His.  "  I  am  persuaded,"  said  one  who  spoke  soberly  and  in- 
spiredly,  "  that  he  which  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will 
carry  it  on  until  the  day  of  redemption,  completion,  and  perfect- 
ness."  There  are  parts  of  the  plan  you  do  not  like,  but  you  must 
deal  with  the  plan  as  an  entirety,  and  do  not  suppose  that  the 
unfinished  house  is  the  complete  building.  By-and-by  it  will  be 
finished,  and  then  God  will  allow  you  to  say  what  you  think  of 
his  high  meaning. 

Observe  this  is  a  whole  plan,  it  is  not  part  of  a  design,  it  is  not 
one  little  patch  plucked  out  of  the  pattern — the  whole  thing  is 
here.  I  found  an  argument  upon  that  circumstance.  Nothing 
happened  to  Christ  that  is  not  in  this  paragraph.  What  do  you 
make  of  that  ?  Remember  the  circumstances,  recall  and  re-live 
the  tragedy,  and  tell  me  what  you  say  to  this — that  nothing  oc- 
curred in  any  tittle  of  incident  or  throb  of  pain  that  is  not  in  this 
paragraph.  The  going  up,  the  betrayal,  the  condemnation,  the 
mocking,  scourging,  crucifying,  rising  again — are  all  gone  through 
before  one  cruel  hand  is  laid  upon  him,  or  one  mocker  dares  spit 
in  that  holy  face.  The  man  who  can  so  deal  with  his  future  can- 
not be  crucified,  in  any  sense  that  will  bring  him  into  despair.  He 
discounts  the  future  ;  its  tragedies  come  to  him  in  a  sense  as  com- 
monplaces, its  crosses  are  but  punctuations  of  a  literature  which  he 


CHRIST'S  PREVISION.  87 

himself  has  written,  and  perused,  and  approved  as  to  its  final  out- 
come and  significance.  We  are  troubled  because  we  have  no  great 
outlook  :  we  take  in  no  field  of  vision,  our  life  comes  into  our 
house  in  little  pieces,  in  mocking  details,  and  not  knowing  what 
is  going  to  come  next,  we  fret  ourselves  with  sore  chafing.  The 
one  thing  we  need  not  know  is  the  detail,  the  great  thing  we  may 
know  is  the  solemn  wholeness. 

Herein  Jesus  Christ  endeavoured  to  strengthen  the  missionaries 
when  he  sent  them  out.  We  have  seen  in  our  examination  of  the 
great  missionary  charge,  which  he  delivered  in  the  tenth  chapter 
of  this  gospel,  that  Jesus  Christ  spread  all  the  future  before  his 
agents,  told  them  of  the  mocking  and  the  scourging  and  the 
delivering  up  to  the  Councils  and  banishment  from  the  synagogues 
— ay,  he  made  the  winter  of  a  grievous  desolation  howl  with  its 
bitter  winds,  before  they  took  a  step  from  the  sanctuary  of  his  own 
presence,  and  his  own  immediate  protection.  That  is  how  to 
live. 

Tell  me  how  is  this,  that  the  whole  thing  is  known  to  Jesus 
before  it  is  done  by  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  ?  He  was  mocked  and 
scourged  and  spat  upon  and  crucified  and  reviled,  within  himself  ■ 
so  when  it  came  to  him,  he  received  it  with  ineffable  meekness  and 
acquiescence  in  the  Divine  will.  He  was  never  surprised.  He 
did  not  turn  round  and  say,  "  What — this  indignity  never  entered 
into  my  contemplation  of  the  sad  event  :  smitten  upon  the  head 
with  a  reed,  struck  on  the  cheek-bone  with  a  clenched  hand,  spat 
upon." — He  never  said,  "  This  did  not  come  within  my  view 
when  I  looked  upon  the  scene  that  was  coming."  It  was  all 
reckoned,  it  was  all  expected,  it  was  all  borne  with  corresponding 
equanimity, — with  the  astounding  peace  which  passeth  under- 
standing. 

Surely  he  will  walk  now  straight  upon  this  great  height,  and  have 
no  more  interruption.  Such  is  not  the  case.  In  a  moment  he  is 
pulled  down  from  his  elevation  as  we  have  seen  him  upon  former 
occasions.  "  Then  came  to  him  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children 
with  her  sons,  worshipping  him,  and  desiring  a  certain  thing  of 
him."  When  have  we  ever  seen  the  occasion  kept  up  throughout 
his  whole  purpose  and  scheme  in  this  life  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Never. 
He  had  never  climbed  a  mount  of  sublimity  from  which  he  is  not 
brought  down  by  some  ruthless  and  mean  hand.      He  was  all  but 


MATTHEW  XX.  17-34. 


crucified  in  the  nineteenth  verse,  and  in  the  twentieth  verse  he  is 
dragged  down  to  answer  a  question  of  most  selfish  ambition.  This 
action  on  the  part  of  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  shows  what 
misconstructions  of  a  Divine  plan  are  possible.  We  suppose  that 
such  and  such  misconstructions  of  human  purpose  never  can  be 
conceived.  Read  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ  in  answer  to  that  vain 
imagination.  It  is  possible  to  misconstrue  God,  it  is  possible  to 
suppose  that  God  is  capable  of  mean  ideas  and  selfish  arrange- 
ments in  his  kingdom.  What  wonder  that  you  and  I  should  be 
misunderstood  ?  Is  it  amazing  beyond  all  imagination  that  you 
and  I  should  not  be  comprehended  in  our  small  circle,  when  we 
have  before  us  the  astounding  fact  that  nearly  every  word  of  Jesus 
Christ's  was  taken  hold  of  at  the  wrong  end  and  turned  to  impious 
uses  ? 

How  was  this  woman  revealed  ?  She  was  revealed  at  the  point 
of  unreasonableness.  We  may  have  a  thousand  fantastic  dreamings 
in  our  hearts,  and  a  most  vile  self-consciousness,  and  no  one  need 
know  anything  about  it,  but  the  moment  we  become  unreasonable 
we  show  what  sin  really  is,  in  some  of  its  practical  relations  and 
aspects.  Men  who  could  not  understand  sin  in  its  abstract  relation 
to  God,  as  a  spiritual  offence,  understand  it  and  hate  it  the  mo- 
ment it  assumes  the  attitude  and  exercises  the  prerogative  of  unrea- 
sonableness. We  understand  sin  in  some  parts  of  its  conjugation, 
not  in  its  reality  and  essence. 

Thg  ten  were  moved  with  indignation  when  they  heard  of  the 
kingdom  being  so  divided.  They  were  not  moved  with  indigna- 
tion until  the  point  of  unreasonableness  was  reached.  We  are 
shocked  at  points ;  we  do  not  take  the  right  grasp  and  scope,  but 
we  are  shocked  at  detail.  It  is  possible  to  be  more  offended  by  a 
discourtesy  than  by  a  crime. 

What  will  Jesus  Christ  do  now  ?  He  will  lift  up  the  occasion 
back  to  its  grand  level.  He  was  never  responsible  for  the  lower^ 
ing  of  the  occasion.  The  moment  he  comes  into  it  he  lifts  it  up. 
In  this  instance  he  restored  the  occasion  to  its  sublime  level — 
hence  he  laid  down  the  great  law  of  meekness,  self-crucifixion,  and 
service  in  his  kingdom.  "Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you, 
let  him  be  your  minister  ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you, 
let  him  be  your  servant :  even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be 


CHRIST  AS  A    THIRD  PERSON. 


ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many. "     That  is  the  law  of  greatness  in  the  Divine  kingdom. 

Observe  that  in  both  these  instances  Jesus  Christ  speaks  of  him- 
self as  a  third  person.  Great  is  the  mystery  and  great  the  gracious- 
ness  of  this  Man.  Of  whom  does  he  speak  in  the  eighteenth  verse 
— "  The  Son  of  Man  shall  be  betrayed  unto  the  chief  priests  and 
unto  the  scribes  ?"  Of  whom  does  he  speak  in  the  twenty-eighth 
verse — "  Even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister?"  Why  does  he  not  speak  directly  of  himself  as 
IP  Do  we  not  sometimes  relieve  our  sorrows  by  this  imperson- 
ality, by  this  enlargement  of  ourselves  into  representativeness,  and 
do.  we  not  sometimes  subdue  what  otherwise  might  be  an  ambition 
by  speaking  of  ourselves  as  types  of  a  divine  class  or  purpose  ?  He 
enlarges  the  occasion  by  this  very  use  of  the  third  person.  Some- 
times he  said  "  I — Me"  with  a  wondrous  pathos,  but  he  most 
frequently  called  himself  the  Son  of  Man  when  he  spoke  of  his 
suffering  and  of  his  glory.  He  would  make  all  occasions  grand  : 
he  would  never  draw  pity  upon  the  mere  son  of  the  carpenter,  he 
would  never  have  himself,  in  the  littleness  of  his  actuality  and  per- 
sonality, wept  over  and  pitied  as  a  mere  atom.  Whatever  answer 
was  made  to  his  appeals  must  be  made  not  to  the  local  man,  not 
to  the  Nazarene,  not  to  the  individual  measurable  by  the  vision 
that  looked  upon  him,  but  to  the  Son  of  Man, — a  term  yet  to  be 
understood.  Jesus  Christ  projects  these  great  phrases,  a^d  the 
ages  have  to  live  up  to  them — the  kingdom  of  heaven,  the  Son  of 
Man,  the  Son  of  God — these  are  expressions  which  do  not  empty 
upon  us  their  whole  meaning  at  once  :  they  are  age-words,  they 
spread  themselves  over  the  throbbing  aeons  of  all  time,  and  have 
their  ministry  for  generation  after  generation  until  the  close  comes. 

We  have  spoken  of  murmuring  men.  We  have  just  had  before 
us  two  disappointed  men.  Now  there  come  before  us  two  rejoicing 
men.  Let  us  hasten  to  the  sunny  side  of  the  history,  where  the 
light  falls  warmly  and  there  is  room  enough  to  be  glad  in.  "  Be- 
hold, two  blind  men  sitting  by  the  way  side,  when  they  heard  that 
Jesus  passed  by,  cried  out,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  us,  O  Lord, 
thou  Son  of  David."  Again  observe  what  has  already  attracted 
our  attention.     No  man  ever  appealed  to  Jesus  Christ  for  help  of 


go  MATTHEW  XX.  17 '-34. 

this  kind  in  the  name  of  justice.  We  cannot  too  strongly  keep 
that  fact  before  the  mind  ;  we  have  had  it  again  and  again  in  this 
history,  and  because  it  occurs  again  and  again,  the  comment  must 
be  as  frequent  as  the  repetition  of  the  incident.  The  blind  men 
never  said,  "  We  have  heard  that  thou  didst  cure  a  leper,  therefore 
in  the  name  of  impartiality  we  charge  thee  to  heal  us  of  our  blind- 
ness." Every  suppliant  came  to  Christ  along  the  line  of  mercy. 
So  it  must  be  to  the  very  end.  That  God  has  pardoned  one  sinner 
for  Christ's  sake  is  no  reason  why  I  should  go  to  him  and  chal- 
lenge him  in  the  name  of  justice  to  be  as  impartial  to  me  as  to  other 
men.  There  are  circumstances  in  life  in  which  we  stand  alone, 
in  the  solemnity  of  perfect  individualism,  every  man  carrying  his 
own  burden,  every  man  stung  by  his  own  sin,  every  man  burnt  in 
a  hell  of  his  own,  and  out  of  the  pit  of  his  own  particular  distress 
he  must  vehemently  call  upon  God  in  the  sweet  name  of  mercy. 

Humanity  asserts  itself  in  these  great  cries  ;  in  pain,  in  want, 
in  helplessness,  in  conscious  desolation,  the  soul  is  lifted  above 
mere  technicality.  Trust  the  soul  in  those  high  moods  of  con 
scious  need,  confronting  the  great  Giver  :  when  the  soul  speaks 
then,  it  speaks  in  perfect  eloquence.  Do  not  attempt  to  pray  until 
you  feel  the  need,  or  you  will  be  mocked  by  your  very  supplica. 
tion,  and  your  religion  will  be  turned  into  scepticism  and  your 
simulating  piety  will  become  as  sourness  in  the  heart.  Do  not 
shut  the  eyes  unless  you  really  wish  to  see  God,  or  the  very  dark- 
ness will  become  a  burden  upon  your  eyelids,  and  you  will  wonder 
that  you  should  have  undertaken  a  weariness  so  painful  ;  but  when 
consciously  blind,  halt,  bruised,  shattered,  wounded,  needy,  and 
you  hear  that  the  Son  of  God  passes  by,  then  lift  up  the  voice  with 
great  shouting,  and  vehemence  and  crying  and  tears,  call  for  him, 
and  you  will  know  whether  prayer  is  a  device  of  the  fancy,  or  a 
reality  and  a  necessity  of  the  life. 

Perhaps  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  is  now  exhausted,  and  there- 
fore he  did  not  give  to  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  what  she 
asked  for.  Now  and  again  he  did  say  "  No"  to  men,  but  rarely. 
He  would  rather  have  said  "  Yes"  a  thousand  times.  Can  he 
give  any  more  ?  Let  me  read.  "  So  Jesus  had  compassion."  I 
may  pause  there,  for  I  know  the  rest.  Once  let  his  compassion  be 
touched  and  his  omnipotence  goes  along  with  it.  Had  he  no 
compassion  on  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  ?     None.     No 


THE   CONTROVERSY  ABOUT  PRAYER.  91 

appeal  was  made  to  pity  or  to  love.  The  moment  we  read  that 
Jesus  had  compassion,  we  may  close  the  book,  for  we  know  the 
rest,  down  to  its  uttermost  line  and  hue.  "  And  he  touched  their 
eyes,  and  immediately  their  eyes  received  sight  and  they  followed 
him."  It  is  well  that  this  incident  occurs  immediately  after  the 
conversation  with  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children.  We  won- 
dered if  the  power  had  run  out,  we  began  to  be  surprised  at  this 
answer,  as  supposing  that  mayhap  the  almightiness,  as  we  imag- 
ined it,  had  exhausted  itself,  and  now  he  was  making  up  by  much 
reasoning  what  was  lacking  in  sterling  strength.  It  is  not  so. 
His  "  Yes"  would  not  be  so  grand  if  he  could  not  say  "  No." 
He  is  so  complete  to  me  that  I  follow  him  through  his  whole  life, 
for  here  he  says  to  a  mother  with  her  two  children  "  No,"  and 
there  he  says  to  two  blind  men,  "What  do  you  want?" 
' '  Sight. "      "  Then, ' '  said  Jesus,  ' '  take  it  and  see. ' ' 

Now  herein  is  the  whole  controversy  about  prayer  settled,  to  my 
own  satisfaction.  I  pray  God  to  let  me  sit  sometimes  on  the  right 
hand  and  sometimes  on  the  left  of  the  majesty  of  heaven,  and  he  says 
"  No."  Then  I  pray  him  to  pity  me  and  take  me  up  and  heal 
my  sicknesses  and  supply  that  which  is  lacking,  and  I  approach 
him  in  the  right  spirit,  humbly,  self-renouncingly,  hopefully, 
unable  to  see  him  because  of  the  great  hot  tears  that  blind  me,  and 
yet  sometimes  seeing  him  the  better  for  those  waters  of  contrition. 
Then  he  says,  ' '  What  wilt  thou  ?  Open  thy  mouth  wide  and  I 
will  fill  it.  What  wilt  thou  ?  and  thou  shalt  have  it  even  to  the 
half  of  my  kingdom — what  wilt  thou  ?"  Then  seizing  the  occa- 
sion I  tell  him  what  my  real  necessity  is,  and  he  who  said  "  No" 
to  my  amdi/ion,  gives  me  to  overflow  when  I  plead  my  necessity 
and  urge  the  plea  of  a  burning  pain.  Ten  thousand  little  prayers 
fall  down  upon  the  altar,  from  which  they  went  feebly  up,  because 
they  were  inspired  by  ambition  or  vitiated  and  tainted  by  some 
selfish  purpose,  whereas  other  prayers  that  went  up  for  pardon  and 
pity,  help,  light,  succour — when  I  asked  him  to  sit  up  all  night 
because  of  the  affliction  that  is  in  the  house,  to  open  mine  eyes  be- 
cause I  could  not  see  one  step  before  me,  and  to  lead  on  where 
the  way  was  all  bog — then  he  gave  me  great  Amens  which  repro- 
nounced  and  answered  the  prayer  of  my  aching  heart. 


LXXVII. 
PRAY  ER. 

Almighty  God,  who  can  follow  the  way  which  thou  dost  take,  or  un- 
derstand the  writing  of  thy  books,  or  hear  all  the  music  of  thy  voice  ? 
We  are  always  left  behind  :  we  cannot  keep  pace  with  thy  going  ;  we  are 
tired,  and  if  thou  didst  not  gather  the  lambs  in  thy  bosom  and  carry  them 
in  thine  arms,  behold  thy  whole  flock  would  be  left  in  stony  places.  But 
thou  art  mindful  of  us  with  tender  care  :  when  we  are  weak  then  are  we 
strong,  because  thou  dost  draw  us  still  nearer  to  thine  own  almightiness. 
We  have  heard  of  thee  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  calls  thee  our  Father  : 
he  hath  revealed  the  Father,  he  told  us  that  he  himself  came  from  the 
bosom  of  the  Father — his  speech  about  thee  has  made  us  glad  with  true 
joy. 

Thou  hast  numbered  the  very  hairs  of  our  head,  thou  hast  given  unto 
us  all  thy  heart's  love,  yea  thou  didst  so  love  us  as  to  give  thine  only-be- 
gotten Son  to  live,  to  die,  to  rise  again,  to  pray  all  his  breath  in  Heaven. 
He  is  our  Priest  and  Intercessor  and  great  King,  as  he  was  our  Saviour 
when  he  died  upon  the  cross  and  poured  out  his  precious  blood  for  the 
ransom  and  redemption  of  the  world.  Why  do  we  not  believe  thee  ? 
Behold  some  of  us  now  in  thine  house  are  dumb  and  deaf  and  blind,  and 
our  hearts  are  as  the  nether  millstone.  Some  of  us  have  never  wept  at 
the  cross,  some  of  us  have  never  felt  the  cleansing  blood.  Why  are  some 
altars  left  unlighted,  why  are  some  lives  left  among  the  beasts  that  perish  ? 
We  cannot  understand  this  :  it  is  too  high  for  us  and  too  deep  and  alto- 
gether out  of  our  scope  and  reach.     We  mourn  it. 

Thou  art  kind  unto  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil.  Thou  dost  not 
pour  thy  rain  upon  the  gardens  of  righteous  men  alone,  nor  dost  thou 
confine  the  shining  of  the  sun  to  the  windows  of  those  that  are  open  tow- 
ards the  heavens  in  loving  expectation  and  desire,  but  thou  pourest  thy 
rain  upon  good  and  bad,  just  and  unjust,  and  the  shining  of  the  sun  is  an 
impartial  glory.  So  surely  is  thy  love  in  Christ :  did  he  not  die  for  the 
whole  world,  is  he  not  sent  into  every  country,  has  he  not  a  gospel  for 
every  heart,  did  he  not  cry  over  the  cities  that  rejected  him,  is  not  his 
heart  filled  with  compassion  towards  all  the  children  of  men  ?  Why  this 
hardness,  why  this  unanswering  rebellion  of  spirit  ?  May  we  pray  that 
now  the  mighty  change  may  be  accomplished— may  we  desire  in  loving 
prayer  that  now  may  be  the  day  of  salvation  to  all  who  have  not  yet 
uttered  the  oath  of  love  or  received  the  seal  of  pardon  ?  Come  suddenly 
to  thy  people  :  now  that  we  are  all  in  one  place  may  we  be  of  one  accord 


THE   TEXT. 


93 


— when  we  are  of  one  accord  thou  wilt  not  withhold  the  pentecostal  bene- 
diction and  revelation. 

Spirit  of  the  living  God,  come  now — Spirit  of  fire,  answer  us  from  the 
high  Heavens — Spirit  of  life,  let  thine  answer  be  unto  us  great  and  tender 
and  full  of  satisfaction.  Dry  the  tears  of  our  sorrow,  staunch  our  bleed- 
ing wounds,  lift  up  those  that  are  cast  down,  speak  comfortably  unto 
Jerusalem,  let  tender  solaces  recover  our  strength  and  messages  from 
Heaven  rekindle  the  lamp  of  our  hope.  O  save  us,  Mighty  One — draw 
us  to  thyself,  and  set  not  the  foot  of  thy  power  upon  any  one  of  us,  or  we 
shall  be  crushed  and  destroyed,  but  open  thine  heart  and  bid  us  welcome 
to  thy  love,  and  show  us  the  meaning  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  at  the 
close  of  this,  our  waiting  upon  thee  together,  with  one  consent,  may  we 
have  seen  the  King  in  his  beauty  and  heard  voices  from  Heaven.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxi.  1-16. 

1.  And  when  they  drew  nigh  unto  Jerusalem,  and  were  come  to  Beth- 
phage  (on  the  road  from  Jericho,  and  to  the  east  of  Bethany)  unto  the 
mount  of  Olives,  then  sent  Jesus  two  disciples, 

2.  Saying  unto  them,  Go  into  the  village  over  against  you,  and  straight- 
way ye  shall  find  an  ass  tied,  and  a  colt  with  her  ;  loose  them,  and  bring 
them  unto  me. 

3.  And  if  any  man  say  aught  unto  you,  ye -shall  say,  The  Lord  hath 
need  of  them  ;  and  straightway  he  will  send  them. 

4.  All  this  was  done  (has  come  to  pass)  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying, 

5.  Tell  ye  the  daughter  of  Sion,  Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee, 
meek,  and  sitting  upon  an  ass,  and  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass. 

6.  And  the  disciples  went,  and  did  as  Jesus  commanded  them, 

7.  And  brought  the  ass,  and  the  colt,  and  put  on  them  their  clothes, 
and  they  set  him  thereon. 

8.  And  a  very  great  multitude  spread  their  garments  in  the  way  ; 
others  cut  down  branches  from  the  trees,  and  strawed  them  in  the  way. 

9.  And  the  multitudes  that  went  before,  and  that  followed,  cried,  say- 
ing, Hosanna  to  the  son  of  David  :  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  ;  Hosanna  in  the  highest. 

10.  And  when  he  was  come  into  Jerusalem,  all  the  city  was  moved 
(filled  with  pilgrims  at  the  beginning  of  Passover  week),  saying,  Who  is 
this? 

11.  And  the  multitude  said.  This  is  Jesus  the  prophet  of  Nazareth  of 
Galilee. 

12.  And  Jesus  went  into  the  temple  of  God,  and  cast  out  all  them  that 
sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money- 
changers (Syrian,  Egyptian,. Greek,  the  money  might  be),  and  the  seats 
of  them  that  sold  doves. 

13.  And  said  unto  them,  It  is  written,  My  house  shall  be  called  the 


94  MATTHEW  XXI.  1-16. 

house  of  prayer  ;  but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves  (Palestine  was 
then  swarming  with  brigands). 

14.  And  the  blind  and  the  lame  came  to  him  in  the  temple  ;  and  he 
healed  them. 

15.  And  when  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  saw  the  wonderful  things 
that  he  did,  and  the  children  crying  in  the  temple,  and  saying,  Hosanna 
to  the  son  of  David,  they  were  sore  displeased, 

16.  And  said  unto  him,  Hearest  thou  what  these  say  ?  And  Jesus  saith 
unto  them,  Yea  ;  have  ye  never  read,  Out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and 
sucklings  thou  hast  perfected  praise  ? 

THE   ENTRY   INTO   THE   CITY. 

HOW  did  he  know  where  the  ass  was,  and  the  colt,  and  in 
what  condition  they  would  be  found  ?  This  seems  to  be 
a  little  thing  in  the  reading,  but  if  you  will  think  yourselves  back 
into  the  exact  details  of  the  situation,  even  in  this  little  bush  you 
may  find  a  fire  that  burns,  but  does  not  consume.  Ho\V  did  Jesus 
know  all  the  little  things  of  which  he  spake  in  the  course  of  his 
ministry  upon  earth  ?  How  did  he  see  Nathanael  under  the  fig- 
tree,  how  did  he  read  and  picture  his  character  and  state  it  in 
words  that  startled  the  man  himself  ?  How  did  he  know  who  it 
was  in  the  tree  looking  down  upon  him  in  a  spirit  of  curiosity  ? 
How  knew  he  the  man's  name  and  the  man's  circumstances,  and 
how  did  he  dare  say  that  he  would  be  the  man's  guest  that  day  ? 
And  by  what  power  of  vision  does  he  see  the  place  where  the  ass 
is,  and  the  colt,  the  place  where  two  ways  meet,  and  the  possibility 
of  the  owners  being  there  ?  How  does  he  charge  the  disciples  to 
explain  their  errand  to  any  one  who  should  interrogate  them  upon 
it  ?  We  take  these  things  too  much  as  a  matter  of  course, but  dili- 
gently consider  them,  and  weigh  them,  and  bring  them  up  to  their 
proper  and  complete  totality,  and  tell  me  if  the  upgathering  of 
these  fragments  does  not  fill  many  baskets,  and  does  not  awaken 
all  the  wonder,  of  a  religious  kind,  of  which  man  is  capable. 

Yet,  with  all  this,  he  uses  a  word  which  seems  to  set  it  in  singu- 
lar and  all  but  painful  contrast.  He  speaks  as  a  man  of  need ;  he 
who  could  see  all  things  and  foretell  all  things  confesses  to  his  per- 
sonal necessity.  The  head  that  carried  all  knowledge  had  not 
where  to  sleep,  of  its  own  right  and  title.  And  again  in  that  very 
selfsame  sentence  he  used  a  word  which  throws  the  term  "  need  " 
into  striking  contrast — Lord.      Such  strange  mixture  do  we  find  in 


FULFILLING   SCRIPTURE.  95 

the  talk  of  this  Man.  Lord  and  need  in  the  same  sentence  !  He 
does  not  give  up  his  royalty  because  of  his  necessity,  nor  does  his 
royalty  and  Lordship  save  him  from  need.  And  yet  what  need 
could  he  have  who  had  but  to  express  the  wish  and  it  was  instantly 
complied  with  ?  It  was  a  sweet  necessity,  it  was  the  pain  of  that 
hunger  which  had  wherewith  to  satisfy  itself.  Is  not  hunger  a  de- 
lightful sensation  when  the  smoking  feast  is  before  you  ?  What 
hunger  is  that  which  betakes  itself  into  a  banqueting  hall  loaded 
with  all  that  can  delight  the  senses  and  satisfy  the  appetite  ? 
What  need  could  he  have  who  had  but  to  wish  and  it  was  done, 
to  command  and  it  stood  fast,  to  express  a  desire  and  it  hastened  on 
eager  feet  and  with  passionate  love  to  satisfy  it  even  to  overflow  ? 

A  wondrous  reality  you  will  find  in  all  the  life  and  speech  of 
Jesus.  He  hides  nothing.  He  is  Lord  and  yet  he  has  need  ;  he 
is  Master,  and  yet  he  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head  :  he  com- 
mands with  all  the  breadth  and  emphasis  of  one  who  would  rule 
worlds,  and  yet  the  foxes  are  better  housed  and  the  birds  have 
nests  to  themselves,  while  he  is  exile  and  wanderer,  solitary  as  a 
homeless  one.  Nothing  is  painted  here,  nothing  veneered,  noth- 
ing kept  back  :  the  stern,  simple,  absolute  reality  faces  the  reader 
and  compels  him,  if  he  be  a  man  of  candid  mind,  to  acknowledge 
that  nothing  is  set  down  here  by  way  of  false  allurement,  but  every- 
thing is  real,  strong,  simple,  and  open,  to  be  tested  by  all  the 
organs  and  instruments  of  reason. 

He  is  now  about  to  fulfil  a  scripture.  "  All  this  was  done  that 
it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet."  He  did 
nothing  extemporaneously,  his  most  sudden  act  was  a  flash  from 
a  volcano  which  it  had  taken  an  eternity  to  gather.  There  was  all 
the  appearance  of  freshness  about  everything  he  did,  as  if  it  had 
never  been  thought  about  before,  and  yet  just  as  he  planned  this 
journey  did  he  plan  the  whole  scheme  of  things  of  which  we  form 
a  more  or  less  insignificant  part.  He  foresaw  the  occasion,  knew 
where  to  find  the  colt  on  which  he  would  ride,  sent  for  it,  gave  an 
answer  by  anticipation  to  any  man  who  asked  the  disciples  what 
they  were  doing.  See  in  the  little  event  before  you,  with  all  its 
exquisite  shaping  and  adaptation,  on  a  small  scale  what  he  has 
been  doing  on  the  scale  of  the  universe.  The  very  hairs  of  your 
head  are  all  numbered,  the  inventory  of  the  universe  is  in  heaven, 
the  Writer  of  the  books  that  cannot  be  burned  is  in  the  skies,  all 


96  MATTHEW  XXI.   1-16. 

things  are  set  down  there  in  imperishable  ink,  and  when  the  Son 
of  Man  is  come  in  his  glory  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  then 
will  he  read  all  over  the  earth's  long  story,  so  bloody,  tragic,  ter- 
rible, and  yet,  in  his  reading,  they  will  fall  into  strange  weird  re- 
sonance and  rhythm,  and  we  shall  find  that  even  the  storms  have 
been  caught  up  within  the  embrace  of  a  law  inspired  of  Godr  and 
tending  to  the  blessedness  and  perfecting  of  the  human  race. 

Are  there  not  many  of  us  who  would  send  Jesus  Christ  the  colt 
from  the  stable,  the  horse  from  the  field,  the  cattle  from  the  pasture, 
the  gold  from  the  bank,  and  yet  would  not  send  him — ourself  ?  We 
might  be  proud  to  give  him  anything  we  have — he  wants  us,  as  we 
are.  He  seeks  not  yours,  but  you,  and  having  you,  he  has  yours. 
Therein  is  a  solemn  truth,  deep  as  life.  It  is  not  enough  to  give 
him  out  of  the  hand,  we  must  give  him  the  hand  itself.  Ye  are 
not  your  own,  ye  are  bought  with  a  price,  therefore  glorify  God 
in  your  body  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are  Christ's.  We  are  not 
to  subscribe,  we  are  to  sacrifice  :  We  are  not  to  send  something,  we 
are  to  take  ourself.  We  beseech  you,  therefore,  brethren,  by  the 
mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  yourselves  as  living  sacrifices,  holy, 
acceptable  unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service. 

"  And  a  very  great  multitude  spread  their  garments  in  the  way  : 
others  cut  down  branches  from  the  trees  and  strawed  them  in  the 
way,  and  the  multitudes  that  went  before  and  that  followed  cried." 
They  might  do  all  that,  and  do  nothing  !  The  men  sent  the  colt  : 
the  great  multitude  spread  their  garments,  others  cut  down 
branches,  and  all  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  as  if  the  King  had  come, 
and  must  be  hailed  in  shouts  of  loyal  delight.  All  that  might 
mean  nothing,  and  yet,  if  it  meant  the  right  thing,  it  was  itself 
necessary.  What  is  there  under  it  ?  If  the  life  be  under  it,  then 
the  enthusiasm  is  not  only  contagious,  it  is  necessary,  and  it  is 
most  beautiful.  Christ  awakens  enthusiasm  :  the  loyalty  which  is 
paid  to  Christ  is  a  loyalty  of  passionate  and  uncontrollable  love,  it 
keeps  back  nothing,  it  considers  that  nothing  has  been  done  while 
anything  remains  to  be  attempted.  Such  love  -holds  that  nothing 
has  been  given  whilst  anything  has  been  withheld. 

Where  is  passion  to-day  ?  Who  now  is  excited  in  a  godly  and 
healthy  sense  about  Jesus  Christ  ?     Yet  he  is  the  Man  of  the  day, 


WEEPING    OVER    THE   CITY.  97 

books  written  about  him  are  still  read  and  asked  for,  and  are 
greatly  multiplied.  Still  he  is  the  puzzle  of  the  times  :  he  over- 
looks every  shoulder,  breathes  upon  every  honest  labourer,  speaks 
comfortably  to  every  suffering  heart,  divides  the  burden  and  multi- 
plies the  joy  of  every  life.  Are  we  not  too  cold  about  him  ?  Are 
we  not  too  respectable,  in  the  merel}r  conventional  sense  of  that 
term,  in  the  arrangement  and  expression  of  our  piety  ?  Are  we 
not  as  successors,  the  unnamed  but  real  posterity  of  the  Scribes 
and  the  Pharisees  who  were  appalled  by  the  enthusiasm  which 
Jesus  Christ  evoked  ?  Consider  this  well.  I  do  not  want  any  of 
you  to  spread  your  garments  in  the  way  and  cut  down  branches 
from  the  trees,  and  to  join  the  great  cry,  unless  these  things  ex- 
press a  real  and  healthy  condition  of  the  heart.  Yet  it  must  not 
be  left  unsaid,  that  where  there  is  absolute,  unreserved  consecra- 
tion of  the  soul,  there  will  be  corresponding  expression  in  the 
whole  demeanor  of  the  life. 

"  And  when  he  was  come  into  Jerusalem,  all  the  city  was 
moved," — but  Luke  puts  in  an  incident  which  Matthew  omits  : 
going  towards  the  city,  unable  to  see  it  because  of  a  shoulder  of 
the  hill,  he  turns  suddenly  round,  and  there  was  beauteous  queenly 
Jerusalem,  great  light  shining  upon  it  and  covering  it  as  with  a 
robe  of  purest  snow.  And  yonder  were  the  marble  pinnacles,  and 
yonder  the  gilded  roof  of  the  temple — such  a  sight  in  form  of  a 
city  never  flashed  on  human  eyes.  Yet  the  Evangelist  says,  ' '  And 
when  he  came  near  the  city  he  wept  over  it."  He  never  wept  for 
himself  :  when  he  told  the  disciples  that  he  was  going  up  to  Jeru- 
salem to  be  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  men  who  should  mock  him 
and  scourge  him  and  crucify  him,  no  tear  stood  in  his  eye — but 
when  he  was  come  near  the  city,  he  wept  over  it,  and  said, 
"  Hadst  thou  known,  even  thou,  in  this  thy  day  the  things  that 
belong  unto  thy  peace  !  But  now  they  are  hidden  from  thee. ' ' 
When  he  stood  in  the  judgment  hall,  when  he  was  smitten  with 
the  reed,  when  men  spat  upon  his  face,  when  they  plucked  the 
hair  from  his  cheek,  he  wept  not — but  when  he  was  come  near 
the  city,  he  wept  over  it,  and  said,  ' '  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how 
often  would  I  have  gathered  thee,  but  thou  wouldst  not  !  It  is 
now  too  late. ' ' 

He  weeps  over  you,  hard  hearts  ;  he  weeps  over  you,  disobedi- 


98  MATTHEW  XXI.  1-16. 

ent  and  self-pleasing  will  and  purpose  of  life.  No  scourge  could 
make  him  cry  for  himself,  no  nails  driven  into  his  hands  ever 
caused  him  to  weep  weakly  for  the  pain's  sake  ;  but  when  he  was 
come  nigh  unto  the  city  he  wept  over  it.  Those  tears  were  the 
prelusive  drops  of  a  thunder  shower  that  destroyed  the  queen  of 
cities  :  they  went  before  the  great  black  thunder  drops  that  fell  on 
the  hot  streets — and  as  he  cries  over  us  to-night  his  tears  have  the 
same  meaning — he  will  rain  fire  and  brimstone  from  heaven  upon 
those  that  continue  their  sin  beyond  the  reach  of  his  patience.  It 
is  one  of  two  things,  it  is  falling  upon  that  stone  and  being 
broken,  or  having  the  stone  falling  upon  us  and  being  ground  to 
powder. 

"  And  when  he  was  come  into  Jerusalem,  all  the  city  was 
moved,  saying,  Who  is  this  ?' '  Cities  are  moved  by  various  causes. 
Let  news  of  a  great  war  be  reported  in  London,  and,  great  as  the 
city  is,  it  will  be  moved  from  centre  to  circumference.  Let  a 
great  man  die,  even  in  a  green  old  age,  and  the  city,  the  country, 
the  civilised  world  feels  that  the  cedar  has  fallen.  It  is  a  great 
thing  indeed  to  have  such  responsibility  attached  to  power  and  to 
life,  that  when  the  man  dies  the  world  shall  feel  itself  poorer  be- 
cause of  his  withdrawment.  The  death  that  eclipses  the  gaiety  of 
nations,  that  stops  the  mad  dance  half  through,  that  makes  the 
winebibber  set  down  his  goblet  half  drained,  that  interferes  with 
the  business  of  the  day, — marvellous  indeed  is  such  a  fact.  We 
cannot  hope  to  attain  that  influence,  but  we  can  obtain  a  better. 
You  may  so  live  as  to  be  missed  by  your  family  for  your  good 
deeds,  you  may  so  live  that  the  house  will  be  empty  without  you, 
and  those  who  loved  you  will  have  no  more  joy  under  that  roof 
because  you  have  gone  away. 

The  whole  city  was  moved.  Here  was  a  Man  who  could  move 
a  city  and  could  satisfy  every  emotion  he  excited.  Some  men 
cannot  control  the  excitement  which  they  raise — others  raise  it 
only  to  mock  it  by  grievous  disappointment.  Here  is  a  Man  who 
moves  the  city  to  the  uttermost  depths  of  its  feeling  and  expecta- 
tion, and  having  stirred  the  city  life  into  one  vehement  prayer, 
has  the  Amen  upon  his  lips  which  can  satisfy  its  every  petition. 
Would  that  whole  cities  would  cry  unto  him  !  That  will  never  be 
done  until  individuals  as  such  approach  him  in  the  right  spirit. 


PRAISING    GOD  IN  SONG.  99 

Do  not  therefore  let  us  yearn  for  the  movement  of  whole  cities, 
but  begin  where  we  can,  by  every  individual  heart  calling  him 
"  Lord,"  and  crying  unto  him  as  Saviour  and  King.  Speak  you 
the  holy  word  just  now  ;  poor  broken  bleeding  heart — call  him 
Saviour  :  strong  man  without  a  tremor  of  weakness,  a  pang  of 
pain,  or  an  emotion  of  fear  or  distress,  go  over  to  his  side  and 
bless  him  for  your  strength,  and  offer  it  as  a  sacrifice  upon  his 
altar.  And  you,  little  children,  may  also  join  this  act  of  loyal 
worship. 

1 '  And  when  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  saw  the  wonderful 
things  that  he  did,  and  the  children  crying  in  the  temple," — those 
children  were  boys  :  it  is  a  masculine  noun — but,  little  girls,  you 
may  join  the  hymn.  Boys  and  girls  of  every  condition  in  life, 
rich  and  poor,  well  instructed  and  ignorant,  you  may  bring  your 
tribute  of  praise.  You  may  be  rebuked  :  the  priests  and  scribes 
when  they  heard  the  boys  crying  in  the  temple  and  saying,  "  Ho- 
sanna  to  the  son  of  David, ' '  were  sore  displeased.  The  boys  were 
choristers  in  the  temple  :  they  were  paid  to  sing,  and  they  did  not 
receive  their  money  for  the  purpose  of  crying  "  Hosanna"  to  a 
foreigner,  especially  this  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  Galilee,  and  they 
thought  that  Christ  himself  ought  to  interfere  and  rebuke  such 
enthusiasm.  They  said  unto  him,  "  Hearest  thou  what  these 
say  ?"  as  if  he  did  not  hear  everything.  We  are  told  that  the  great 
musician  hears  every  instrument  in  the  whole  band.  We  have 
heard  of  one  great  conductor  throwing  up  his  baton  because  one 
instrument  was  not  doing  its  duty  in  the  great  musical  fray.  He 
stopped,  saying  "  Flageolet."  The  burst  of  music  in  all  its  swing, 
and  fulness,  and  grandeur,  and  expressiveness,  was  not  pleasing 
him  because  one  small  flageolet  was  missing  its  duty.  As  if  Jesus 
did  not  hear  who  was  singing  in  the  congregation  and  who  is  not 
singing,  as  well,  and  it  pains  him  to  see  some  who  ought  to  be 
singing  who  are  not  uniting  their  voices  in  the  common  praise. 
Yet  singing  is  not  a  question  of  the  voice  only  ;  do  not  say  a  man 
is  not  worshipping  God  in  the  song  because  he  is  not  singing  : 
one  sings  sympathetically  as  well  as  vocally.  You  sing  with  the 
spirit  and  with  the  understanding  as  well  as  with  the  voice.  It  is 
an  error  of  a  very  mischievous  kind  to  suppose  that  a  man  is  not 
singing  or  praising  God  simply  because  he  is  not  doing  so  vocally.. 


MATTHEW  XXI.  1-16. 


I  sing  best  with  the  greatest  singer  :  when  I  hear  one  who  can  sing 
1  sing  with  the  singer.  It  carries  my  soul  aloft  :  every  heart-throb 
of  mine  heightens  the  great  song. 

Jesus  Christ  answered  these  men  from  their  own  standpoint. 
Observe,  they  were  persons  whose  business  it  was  to  read  the  law 
and  understand  it,  and  again  and  again  in  his  life  Jesus  Christ 
turned  round  upon  these  men  and  said,  "  Have  ye  never  read  ?" 
They  were  spending  a  lifetime  in  reading  the  letter,  and  they  sel- 
dom touched  the  vital  spirit.  These  children  were  not  singing 
extemporaneously  ;  it  was  not  a  piece  of  haphazard  work  in  the 
temple  ;  this  utterance  of  the  boys  was  a  fulfilment  of  prophecy. 
"  Have  ye  never  read,  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings 
thou  hast  perfected  praise"  ?  He  had  read  everything.  How 
did  he  come— he  was  not  a  man  of  letters — to  have  read  every- 
thing ?  Because  he  had  written  everything.  He  was  not  the 
reader  only,  but  the  writer  :  he  inspired  Moses.  "  If  ye  believed 
Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me,  for  he  wrote  of  me."  And 
beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets  and  the  psalms,  he  ex- 
pounded unto  his  disciples,  in  all  the  scriptures,  the  things  con- 
cerning himself. 

Jesus  Christ  always  said  a  kind  word  about  the  children.  The 
disciples  rebuked  them,  and  he  protected  the  dear  little  creatures. 
The  priests  and  the  scribes  were  sore  distressed  because  of  the  chil- 
dren's voices,  and  Jesus  said,  "They  are  fulfilling  prophecy." 
When  did  he  turn  any  one  away  who  would  offer  praise  to  his 
name  or  express  gratitude  for  his  goodness  ?  What  I  want  to  do 
myself  is  not  to  send  him  my  colt  or  gold  or  flowers  or  branches 
or  clothes,  and  not  to  join  only  in  some  loud  loyal  cry  of  delight, 
but  to  offer  him  my  poor,  wounded,  guilty  SELF.  If  he  will 
accept  me,  cleanse  me,  make  me  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing,  purify  me  by  the  washing  and  cleansing  of  his  own 
blood,  then  the  house  is  his,  and  the  garden,  and  the  business, 
and  the  bank.     Having  secured  the  heart,  he  has  secured  all. 


LXXVIII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  if  we  put  our  trust  in  thee,  our  souls  shall  know  no 
unrest  or  pain,  for  thou  wilt  bring  forth  our  righteousness  as  the  light 
and  our  judgment  as  the  noonday.  Thou  dost  carry  all  government,  and 
none  ean  rule  but  by  thy  permission — behold,  every  sovereignty  is  part  of 
thine  own  :  thou  art  the  reigning  One  and  there  is  none  higher  than  the 
Father.  Help  us  to  put  our  whole  trust  in  this  sacred  doctrine,  that  our 
souls  may  not  be  driven  about  and  tossed  with  every  wind  that  blows,  but 
may  enjoy  a  sense  of  security,  and  enter  into  the  mystery  of  the  peace  of 
God.  Thou  dost  hide  us  in  thy  pavilion,  thou  dost  surround  us  with  in- 
violable security,  thine  eye  is  upon  us  for  good,  thine  hand  is  laid  upon 
us  that  we  may  be  defended.  Help  us  to  read  the  miracles  of  thy  provi- 
dence, to  understand  them  as  signs  given  to  the  sons  of  men  from  Heaven, 
and  may  we  so  read  thy  wonderful  works  as  to  enlarge  in  happy  contin- 
uation the  word  which  thou  hast  written  in  thy  Book  for  our  daily  in- 
struction. 

Thy  law  is  one  through  all  the  ages  :  it  is  broken  only  to  our  senses  by 
sleep  and  wakefulness,  by  surprises  which  reveal  our  ignorance,  but  from 
thy  throne,  ever  continued,  ever  consistent,  full  of  love,  shining  with 
beneficence,  the  purpose  of  God,  the  election  and  decree  of  Heaven. 
That  we  may  rest  on  the  rocks  is  our  prayer,  that  our  feet  may  stand 
upon  the  eternal  granite  of  thy  righteousness  is  our  heart's  desire — then 
we  shall  have  peace  and  sweet  content  and  bright  hope,  and  our  heart 
shall  be  as  the  church  of  the  angels. 

We  have  come  to  sing  our  united  hymn  in  thy  hearing,  to  make  com- 
mon prayer  at  the  foot  of  thy  throne,  to  lift  up  the  voice  of  our  thanks- 
giving without  restraint,  and  to  plead  with  thee  that  as  our  day,  so  our 
strength  may  be,  and  that  according  to  the  burden  we  have  to  carry  may 
be  thy  sustaining  grace.  We  come  by  the  appointed  way  :  Jesus  said,  "  I 
am  the  door" — we  enter  by  that  living  door,  we  come  by  the  cross  of 
Christ,  upon  us  and  upon  every  syllable  of  our  prayer  is  the  sacred  blood 
of  the  atoning  sacrifice  ;  so  shall  we  prevail  with  thee,  and  our  hymn  and 
our  prayer  shall  have  audience  in  Heaven. 

Pity  us,  for  we  are  here  but  a  little  while,  and  whilst  we  are  here  we 
are  digging  our  grave.  Shed  thy  tears  upon  us,  but  withhold  the  glances 
of  thy  judgment,  for  we  are  as  a  vapour  that  cometh  for  a  little  time  and 
then  vanisheth  away  ;  yet  hast  thou  given  unto  us  wondrous  capacities — 
of  sin,  of  knowledge,  of  service,  of  homage  to  thy  throne,  and  of  com- 


102  MATTHEW  XXI.  17-22. 

plete  identification  with  every  purpose  that  stirred  the  heart  of  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  world.  May  those  capacities  be  sanctified,  may  fire  from 
Heaven  take  away  from  them  everything  that  is  impure,  and  may  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  fire  of  the  universe,  the  flame  of  light  and  of  glory,  dwell 
within  us,  subduing  our  will,  enlightening  our  mind,  leading  our  purified 
heart  into  higher  rapture  and  more  loving  service. 

Thou  knowest  all  the  purposes  of  our  life  ;  the  plans  we  have  laid  out 
for  to-morrow  thou  hast  read  in  every  line  and  shape  ;  all  the  secret 
things  in  our  heart  are  written  with  sunbeams  on  the  walls  of  Heaven — 
thou  knowest  us  altogether,  our  purposed  journeyings  and  voyagings,  our 
breakings  up  of  immediate  relations  that  they  may  be  renewed  in  still 
tenderer  embraces,  our  commercial  enterprises,  our  family  designs,  every 
trouble  that  depresses,  every  light  that  brings  us  joy — all  is  known  unto 
thee  :  thou  art  ruling  and  directing  all.  We  pray  for  the  spirit  of  resigna- 
tion and  trust  and  complete  love,  that  we  may  rest  in  the  Lord  and  com- 
mit our  way  unto  the  Father. 

Take  away  from  us  the  delight  of  our  eyes,  the  pride  of  our  life,  the  joy 
of  our  home,  and  the  staff  of  our  pilgrimage  if  thou  wilt,  but  take  not  thy 
Holy  Spirit  from  us.  We  yield  ourselves  into  thine  hand  :  they  are  well 
kept  whom  thou  dost  keep.  Make  our  bed  in  our  affliction  :  when  the 
enemy  is  strongest,  be  thou  mightier  than  he,  and  when  he  would  come 
in  as  a  flood,  lift  up  thy  Spirit  as  a  standard  against  him. 

Send  messages  from  thy  table  to  ail  the  guests  who  would  have  been 
here  but  cannot,  because  of  suffering,  in  mind,  body,  or  estate.  Speak 
comfortably  to  such  in  their  solitude,  turn  their  tears  into  blessings,  and 
may  their  weakness  become  the  point  of  their  strength.  Comfort  all  that 
mourn,  visit  those  whom  others  avoid,  let  the  helplessness  of  the  weak  be 
the  reason  of  thy  coming  to  them  in  the  almightiness  of  thy  grace.  Watch 
all  the  seas  of  the  globe,  search  all  the  lands  where  our  loved  ones  are, 
find  out  where  they  be  that  messages  of  love  may  reach  them— and  as  for 
those  for  whom  we  dare  hardly  pray,  so  much  in  hell,  do  thou  search  for 
them,  and  seek  them,  and  bring  them  back— thou,  the  loving  Shepherd, 
the  wounded  Man,  the  sacrificed  Priest,  the  Son  of  God.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxi.  17-22. 

17.  And  he  left  them,  and  went  out  of  the  city  into  Bethany  ;  and  he 
lodged  there. 

18.  Now  in  the  morning,  as  he  returned  into  the  city,  he  hungered. 

19.  And  when  he  saw  a  fig  tree  in  the  way,  he  came  to  it,  and  found 
nothing  thereon,  but  leaves  only,  and  said  unto  it,  Let  no  fruit  grow  on 
thee  henceforward  for  ever.     And  presently  the  fig  tree  withered  away. 

20.  And  when  the  disciples  saw  it,  they  marvelled,  saying,  How  soon 
is  the  fig  tree  withered  away  ! 

21.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  If 
ye  have  faith,  and  doubt  not,  yet  shall  not  only  do  this  which  is  done  to 


THE  HOME  AT  BETHANY.  103 

the  fig  tree,  but  also  if  ye  shall  say  unto  this  mountain,  Be  thou  removed, 
and  be  thou  cast  into  the  sea  ;  it  shall  be  done. 

22.  And  all  things,  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye 
shall  receive. 

THE  CONDEMNATION  OP  USELESSNESS. 

FROM  the  city  to  the  village — it  seems  to  be  but  a  short 
journey  ;  in  point  of  mileage  indeed  it  was  nothing  but  an 
easy  walk.  From  the  city  into  Bethany — how  far  was  that  P  Do 
not  tell  me  the  distance  in  miles,  statute  or  geographical — such 
journeys  have  not  to  be  measured  by  arithmetical  instruments. 
From  the  city  to  Bethany  was  from  a  battle-field  to  a  home — how 
far  is  that  P  From  the  city  to  Bethany  was  a  journey  from  strange- 
ness to  friendship — who  can  lay  a  line  upon  that  immeasurable 
distance  ?  From  the  city  to  Bethany,  a  journey  from  tumult  and 
riot  and  murder  to  love  and  rest  and  tender  ministry — who  can 
lay  a  line  upon  that  diameter  and  announce  its  length  in  miles  ? 
None. 

It  was  worth  while  making  that  little  change  for  one  night — one 
quiet  look  upward,  one  brief  solemn  pause  in  the  rush  of  life,  that 
the  head  might  turn  towards  the  stars  and  the  firmament  and  the 
serenities  of  the  upper  places.  The  house  at  Bethany  was  not 
grand,  but  the  home  was  lined  with  the  gold  of  love.  We  want 
such  a  home  when  the  stress  is  heavy  upon  us — tears  could  be 
shed  there  without  being  misunderstood,  and  the  heart  could  tell 
its  whole  tale  or  remain  in  total  silence,  just  as  the  mood  deter- 
mined, and  there  would  be  no  misconstruction.  It  was  a  church 
in  the  rocks,  it  was  a  sweet  sanctuary,  just  out  of  the  great  high 
road  of  life's  business  and  sacrifice.  Can  you  retire  to  such  a 
nest  ?  Happy  is  your  lot  !  He  who  can  find  a  Bethany,  a  home, 
a  rest-place,  a  Sabbath  in  the  midst  of  the  week,  can  bear  his  bur- 
dens with  equanimity,  and  grace  and  hope. 

But  we  must  return.  In  the  seventeenth  verse  we  read,  "  And 
he  left  them  and  went  out  of  the  city,"  and  in  the  eighteenth 
verse  we  read,  "  As  he  returned  into  the  city."  The  village  must 
not  detain  us  long — the  village  for  rest,  the  city  for  toil.  Once 
the  disciples  said  unto  him  by  the  mouth  of  their  spokesman, 


104  MATTHEW  XXI.  17-22. 

"  Lord,  it  is  good  to  be  here  :  let  us  build."  He  himself  could 
have  said  that  morning  in  Bethany,  "  It  is  good  to  be  here  :  warm 
is  this  home,  the  walls  are  like  arms  round  about  me.  Why  not 
tarry  here  and  rest  till  the  storm  blow  away,  and  all  God's  great 
sky  shine  again  in  translucent  blue  above  my  head  ?' '  But  he 
returned. 

And  as  he  returned,  he  hungered.  See  the  wonderful  natural- 
ness of  this  story  :  it  lives  in  the  very  words  which  tell  it.  Truly 
this  Jesus  was  human  :  he  never  was  at  pains  to  conceal  his 
humanity,  he  drew  no  screen  around  his  weakness,  saying,  "  My 
followers  must  not  see  me  in  this  low  condition."  At  Sychar  he 
told  a  woman  that  he  thirsted  ;  on  the  road  from  Bethany  he 
hungered  ;  on  the  sea  he  fell  asleep.  About  the  humanity  of 
Christ  there  can  be  no  doubt  :  his  deity  is  the  greater  to  me  be- 
cause of  his  humanity.  The  foot  of  this  ladder  is  upon  the  earth  : 
I  can  begin  at  certain  points  in  this  history  and  find  my  way  up- 
ward to  other  and  remoter  points. 

The  circumstance  of  the  fig-tree  must  be  treated  in  this  particu- 
lar connection  as  illustrative  of  the  inner  life  of  Christ.  His  treat- 
ment of  that  tree  was  a  revelation  of  himself  as  he  was  at  that 
moment.  Jesus  Christ  never  did  other  than  reproduce  his  real 
self  at  the  time  :  whatever  he  did  is  the  counterpart  and  outer  sign 
of  his  own  mental  and  spiritual  condition  at  the  time  of  revela- 
tion. In  the  action  find  the  spirit.  Read  the  life  of  Christ  in 
the  light  of  this  suggestion,  and  it  will  be  its  own  commentary  and 
broadest  and  clearest  exposition.  Every  act  was  a  translation  of 
the  Man.  See  how  true  this  is  in  the  case  before  us.  Christ 
always  looked  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Divine  idea  in  everything. 
The  divine  idea  of  the  fig-tree  was  not  leaves,  but  fruit.  There 
was  no  fruit,  and  therefore  the  word  of  destruction  was  spoken. 
Consider  how  near  he  was  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  divine  idea 
which  he  himself  represented,  and  a  man  so  burningly  in  earnest 
could  brook  no  disappointment  then.  His  own  life  was  too  hot 
to  stand  the  mockery  of  any  disappointment.  •  He  came  to  the 
fig-tree  searching  for  fruit ;  he  found  nothing  but  leaves,  and  he 
spoke  the  word  that  withered  it  away. 

What  have  we  here  but  a  great  law,  namely,  that  the  earnestness 


THE  EFFECT  OF  CHRIST'S  INTENSITY.  105 

of  the  living  man  determines  his  view  of  everything  round  about 
him  ?  Jesus  Christ  was  always  earnest,  but  even  his  earnestness 
acquired  a  new  accent  and  intensity  as  the  baptism  of  blood  came 
nearer.  ' '  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,  and  how  am  I 
straitened  till  it  be  accomplished. ' '  That  was  the  mood  of  the 
Man  :  he  could  not  brook  any  irony  of  a  practical  kind  then.  We 
know  what  this  is  in  our  own  life,  when  high  pressure  is  put  upon 
us,  when  all  life  is  centred  in  one  effort,  when  all  the  energies  of 
our  nature  are  wakened  up  and  are  bearing  upon  one  object  which 
we  consider  worthy  of  them — how  impatient  we  then  are  with 
mockery  and  disappointment  and  trifling  of  every  kind  !  We  who 
under  other  circumstances  could  pause  and  wait  and  wonder  and 
excuse  and  suggest  mitigations  of  the  case,  can  brook  no  delay  or 
mockery  when  the  blood  is  at  its  supreme  heat. 

Jesus  Christ  showed  this  in  his  cleansing  of  the  temple  for  the 
second  time.  We  wondered  how  the  men  consented  to  have 
themselves  driven  out  of  the  place.  You  should  have  seen  the 
driver,  that  would  have  explained  all  :  you  should  have  seen  the 
royalty  of  his  look  and  heard  the  sovereignty  of  his  tone,  and  felt 
the  fervour  of  his  prayer.  There  are  times  when  vice  owns  the 
supremacy  of  virtue  :  Jesus  Christ  now  realised  one  of  those  times 
when  he  heard  in  the  temple  the  voices  of  the  brigands  who 
haunted  the  limestone  caverns  of  Judea  :  the  calling  of  their  mer- 
chandise and  the  clamour  of  their  selfishness  roused  his  indigna- 
tion, and  he  scourged  the  ruffians  out  of  the  house  they  had 
polluted. 

This  was  the  temper  of  his  mind  just  then,  when  he  wanted  the 
ass,  and  the  colt,  the  foal  of  the  ass — "  Say  the  Lord  hath  need  of 
him,  and  he  will  be  given  up."  In  that  temper  he  came  into  the 
temple  and  cleansed  it,  in  that  temper  he  looked  upon  the  disap- 
pointing fig-tree  and  withered  it.  All  this  is  but  a  transcript  of 
himself.  Everything,  in  the  judgment  of  Christ  must  be  real, 
useful,  and  satisfying  according  to  its  nature.  His  very  hunger 
was  a  judgment  at  that  time.  He  did  not  wither  away  the  poor 
Samaritan  woman  who  parleyed  with  him  about  a  draught  of 
water  :  he  had  more  time  on  his  hands — the  cross  was  farther  off, 
it  was  a  time  of  revelation  rather  than  of  judgment,  and  he  spoke 
kindly  true  words  to  her  and  held  a  mirror  up  to  her  in  which  she 
saw  herself  in  all  the  length  and  mystery  of  her  lifetime.      He  who 


106  MATTHEW  XXL  17-22. 

so  communed  with  the  woman  at  the  well  withered  up  the  tree 
that  did  net  supply  him  with  food  at  the  moment  of  his  necessity. 
It  was  the  same  Christ,  but  the  same  Christ  under  different  circum- 
stances. At  Sychar  he  was  Revealer,  Interpreter  of  the  universe, 
Messiah,  the  Revealed  One  of  God — on  the  road  from  Bethany, 
wanting  almost  his  last  breakfast  upon  earth  before  the  great 
tragedy,  he  was  burning,  heated  sevenfold,  the  stress  was  terrible 
— every  look  was  then  a  judgment ! 

Jesus  Christ  here  shows  what  he  will  do  with  all  useless  things. 
This  is  not  a  surprise  in  the  revelation  of  Christ.  Do  not  let  us  lift 
up  our  eyes  from  the  page  and  say  how  wonderful  that  he  should 
have  done  this.  In  very  deed,  if  we  have  rightly  read  the  story, 
this  is  the  very  thing  he  has  been  doing  as  he  has  been  coming 
along  the  whole  line  of  his  life,  only  we  see  some  things  now  and 
then  more  sharply  than  at  other  times.  There  are  occasions  upon 
which  whole  revelations  are  condensed  in  an  incident,  and  we  give 
way  to  a  pitiful  wonder  which  does  but  betray  our  ignorance  of 
what  has  already  passed  before  us.  This  circumstance  was  fore- 
told in  the  great  sermon  on  the  mount,  when  Jesus  said,  "  If  the 
salt  have  lost  its  savour  it  is  henceforth  good  for  nothing  but  to  be 
cast  out  and  to  be  trodden  under  foot  of  men."  In  that  sentence 
you  have  the  withered  fig-tree  as  to  all  its  law,  and  inner  meaning, 
and  certain  judgment,  and,  when  Christ  antedated  the  day  of  final 
criticism,  and  brought  before  him  the  man  who  had  buried  his  tal- 
ent in  a  napkin  and  brought  it  out  and  shook  it  down,  saying, 
' '  There  thou  hast  that  is  thine, ' '  he  said,  ' '  Cast  ye  the  unprofit- 
able servant  into  outer  darkness."  That  was  but  the  divine  and 
highest  view  of  this  very  fig-tree  scene — the  condemnation  of  use- 
lessness,  the  outcasting  and  final  burning  of  unprofitableness.  Do 
not  let  us  therefore  consider  that  we  have  come  upon  an  exceptional 
instance,  as  though  nothing  of  this  kind  had  been  so  much  as 
hinted  at  before.  Here  we  find  the  accentuation,  in  a  most  visible 
and  palpable  instance  of  a  law  which  has  guided  the  Saviour  in  all 
his  previous  ministry. 

Will  this  be  the  law  of  his  procedure  always  ?  Most  certainly 
it  will.  If  so,  what  will  happen  in  society,  in  politics,  in  the 
church  ?  This  will  occur  :  he  will  come  up  to  our  institutions 
seeking  fruit,  and  if  he  find  none,  he  will  wither  the  institutions 


THE  LAW  OF  JUDGMENT.  107 

away.  See  there  the  difference  between  him  and  us.  We  keep 
up  institutions  because  they  are  a  hundred  years  old — Jesus  Christ 
keeps  them  up  because  they  bear  fruit.  We  preserve  our  institu- 
tions and  our  organisations  and  machinery,  because  of  their  vener- 
ableness  ;  we  think  it  a  pity  to  touch  them.  True,  they  are  not  so 
useful  as  they  were  wont  to  be  :  true,  they  are  effete,  they  are  self- 
exhausted,  but  seeing  that  they  have  been  standing  there  a  thou- 
sand years,  let  them  stand  a  thousand  longer  !  So  talks  an  unreal 
sentimentalism.  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  If  they  do  not  satisfy  the 
hunger  of  the  age,  let  them  be  withered  and  cut  down  and  re- 
moved, and  new  ones  put  in  their  places. "  He  judges  of  your 
institutions  by  their  power  of  satisfying  the  hunger  that  immediately 
applies  to  them.  So  shall  it  fare  with  the  church,  with  the  pulpit, 
with  all  that  we  hold  traditionally  dear.  Jesus  Christ  will  attend 
our  services,  and  he  will  draw  nigh  unto  the  pulpit  and  say,  "  I 
hunger,  give  me  food,"  and  the  pulpit  that  does  not  satisfy  the 
healthy  and  natural  hunger  of  the  soul,  he  will  wither  away.  No 
matter  how  old,  how  costly,  how  traditionally  grand,  how  adorned 
with  faded  splendours  of  the  past,  if  it  do  not  contain  food  and 
water  for  the  immediate  hunger  of  the  age,  he  curses  it  and  it 
must  wither  away.  How  real  he  is,  how  stern  in  his  healthiness, 
how  utterly  and  grandly  robust  in  all  his  demands.  He  will  cut 
down,  he  will  wither  away,  he  will  destroy,  he  will  overturn,  over- 
turn, overturn,  until  the  right  kingdom  come  in  and  be  set  up  on 
foundations  that  cannot  be  moved. 

How  swiftly  the  decree  executed  itself.  "  And  presently  the 
fig-tree  withered  away."  When  was  his  miracle  ever  done  other 
than  presently  P  How  suggestive  is  this  reflection.  Early  in  the 
sacred  book  we  read,  "  And  God  said,  Let  there  be — "  there  was  / 
The  be  hardly  died  out  of  the  startled  air  till  the  thing  spoken  of 
stood  fast.  So  here  and  everywhere  throughout  the  whole  story 
of  the  miracles,  we  have  immediateness,  instancy,  obedience  with- 
out reluctance,  reply  without  hesitation.  A  man  is  withered  away 
in  a  moment ;  a  great  man  disobedient,  disloyal,  untrue  to  God, 
unfaithful  to  oath  and  covenant,  is  touched  by  the  invisible  finger 
— is  gone  /  He  calls  it  loss  of  memory,  he  speaks  of  it  as  pre- 
mature old  age,  he  rubs  his  eyes  as  if  to  make  them  new  and 
young  again,  and  says  there  is  a  mist  before  them.     What  is  he  ? 


108  MATTHEW  XXI.  17-22. 

A  tree  without  fruit,  a  cumberer  of  the  ground,  man  without  man- 
hood, a  living  irony,  a  mocker  of  realities,  a  hypocrite,  a  palpable 
and  mischievous  sarcasm  ! 

And  so  at  the  end  we  have  just  the  selfsame  thing  as  at  the  be- 
ginning and  at  the  middle.  So  subtle  and  complete  is  the  con- 
sistency of  the  divine  government.  "  Let  there  be — "  and  there 
was.  "  Let  no  fruit  grow  on  thee  henceforward  for  ever" — and 
presently  the  fig-tree  withered  away.  And  at  the  last  he  will  say 
to  some  ' '  Depart, ' '  and  these  shall  go  away  !  My  soul,  come  not 
thou  into  that  secret. 

It  is  in  the  power  of  almightiness  to  wither  us,  to  turn  our  brain 
upside  down,  to  confuse  the  memory,  to  cause  reason  to  lose  her 
way  in  the  troubled  brain  and  to  be  groping  there  in  everlasting 
night.  He  interrupts  the  currents  of  vitality,  he  isolates  the 
mocking  life,  he  will  not  have  uselessness  in  his  church — his  is  a 
withering  word,  nor  does  he  spare  it  even  on  his  way  to  save  the 
world.  He  could  have  withered  his  betrayers  and  judges  by  one 
glance,  he  could  have  burned  up  the  mob  which  was  led  by  the 
gentility  and  culture  of  the  age,  and  left  them  as  white  ashes  on 
the  ground  they  had  dishonoured  ;  but  the  Son  of  Man  came  not 
to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them,  and  whilst  there  is  one 
drop  of  sap  in  the  bruised  reed  he  will  not  break  it,  whilst  there  is 
one  spark  in  the  smoking  flax  he  will  not  quench  it.  But  he  says, 
as  he  only  can  say,  "  My  Spirit  shall  not  always  strive.  O  that 
thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which 
belong  unto  thy  peace.     Now  they  are  hidden  from  thee." 

When  the  disciples  saw  it,  they  once  more  fell  down  from  the 
dignity  of  the  occasion,  and  showed,  as  we  have  so  often  seen,  lit- 
tleness and  meanness  of  soul.  Would  we  could  put  them  all  out 
of  the  way  when  we  read  this  story  :  we  should  then  feel  as  if 
walking  on  mountain  tops — but  ever  and  anon  we  are  plunged 
right  down  into  deep  valleys  by  those  mocking  foolish  men.  They 
marvelled,  saying,  "  How  soon  is  the  fig-tree  withered  away," 
struck  by  the  incident,  not  impressed  by  the  law — marvelling  at 
something  that  was  comparatively  of  no  consequence,  and  forget- 
ting the  grand  and  universal  doctrine  that  was  conveyed.  They 
are  like  ourselves.     Instead  of  hearing  the  sermon,  we  hear  how  it 


BELIEVING  PRAYER.  109 

was  delivered  :  instead  of  listening  for  the  eternal  tone,  and  the 
eternal  truth,  we  look  at  some  mean  transient  incident  of  the  oc- 
casion. What  wonder  if  we  are  lean  in  soul,  poor  and  empty  in 
mind,  and  tossed  about  because  of  unfaith  and  every  mischievous 
doubt  ?  We  should  be  on  the  outlook  for  the  everlasting,  our  eyes 
should  be  shut  so  that  they  might  not  be  tempted  or  led  away  by 
little  or  unmeaning  incidents,  and  that  our  heart  might  have  in- 
tensity of  concentration  in  reference  to  the  great  things  spoken  by 
Christ. 

See  how  these  men  have  not  grown  one  solitary  whit  from  the 
beginning  until  now,  and  in  a  page  or  two  they  will  run  away  : 
they  must  run  away — such  wonderers,  such  puerilities,  could  not 
stay  :  they  must  run,  they  will  forsake  him  and  flee,  and  thus 
complete  the  poetic  circle  and  bring  to  its  proper  issue  the  ideal 
consistency  of  such  characters.  They  who  had  seen  a  thousand 
miracles,  the  dead  raised,  the  blind  restored,  the  deaf  made  to 
hear,  the  sea  quieted  by  a  command,  wondered  with  puerile 
amazement  because  the  fig-tree  shrunk  in  a  moment  and  was 
withered  up  for  ever.  Such  hearers  would  have  degraded  any 
preacher  but  the  Son  of  God,  such  hearers  would  have  stripped 
even  him  of  every  feature  of  heroism  and  dragged  him  down  to 
their  own  mean  dust,  if  he  had  been  other  than  God  himself.  Any 
man-lighted  candle  tney  would  have  blown  out — because  the  light 
was  solar  and  fed  from  eternity  they  could  not  extinguish  its 
splendour. 

Now  Jesus  returns  and  lifts  up  the  occasion  again  to  the  right 
level.  Said  he,  "  If  ye  have  faith  and  doubt  not."  Not  only  so, 
he  made  the  occasion  an  opportunity  of  laying  down  the  great  law 
of  prayer  :  so  does  he  turn  our  wonder  to  great  uses  and  make  our 
ignorance  the  starting-point  of  his  own  revelation.  "  And  all 
things,  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall 
receive."  Believing,  not  hoping  for,  not  selfishly  expecting,  not 
transiently  wishing,  but  believing  :  and  a  man  cannot  believe  in  the 
right  sense  who  is  asking  for  anything  which  his  reason  condemns 
as  improper,  unjust,  or  mischievous.  This  word  "  believing" 
guards  this  promise  like  a  flaming  sword.  I  cannot  ask  for  riches 
or  strength  or  honour  or  fame  :  I  cannot  ask  that  one  may  sit  on 
the  right  hand  and  another  on  the  left  :  I  cannot  ask  that  the  laws 


no  MATTHEW  XXI.  17-22. 

of  nature  be  suspended  and  the  universe  be  afflicted  with  a  thou- 
sand troubles,  whilst  I  am  in  the  mood  described  as  "  believing." 
How  much  is  involved  in  that  word  :  resignation,  childlike  trust, 
asking  for  what  God  will  give,  and  rounding  off  every  prayer  with 
this  sweet  Amen,  "  Nevertheless  not  my  will,  but  Thine,  be  done." 
Thus  jesus  Christ  would  make  us  believe  that  we  answer  our 
own  prayers  just  as  he  told  the  people  that  they  had  wrought  their 
own  miracles.  So  great  grace  was  never  seen  before.  He  told 
the  poor  woman  who  went  straightened  and  invigorated  from  his 
feet,  that  she  had  made  herself  whole — ' '  Daughter, ' '  said  he,  ' '  go 
in  peace,  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole.  Not  my  almightiness 
but  thy  faith."  So  he  told  all  the  people  upon  whom  the  miracles 
were  wrought,  "According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you." 
"Canst  thou  believe?  All  things  are  possible  to  him  that  be- 
lieveth."  And  now  in  prayer,  when  I  fall  down  before  God,  and 
with  united  heart  and  clenched  hands,  the  whole  man  symbolical 
of  homage,  resignation,  faith,  and  ask  for  what  I  need,  when  God 
hands  it  to  me  from  his  hospitable  heavens,  he  says,  "  Take  it : 
thy  Faith  hath  prevailed." 


LXXIX. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  dost  see  all  things  at  once  :  there  is  nothing  hid- 
den from  thine  eyes  :  our  hearts  give  up  their  secrets  to  thee  as  thou  dost 
look  upon  us.  All  things  are  naked  and  open  unto  the  eyes  of  him  with 
whom  we  have  to  do.  Thou  art  not  searching  for  our  faults,  thou  art 
looking  for  the  return  of  our  hearts  to  their  haimony  with  thyself.  Thy 
look  has  no  fire  of  destruction  in  it,  but  is  filled  with  the  tears  of  tender- 
ness, and  often  brightened  by  the  expectation  of  loving  hope.  We  have 
come  to  thine  house  to-day— it  is  a  step  in  the  upward  road,  may  we  take 
the  next,  and  all  the  rest  following,  and  by  steadfast  perseverance  be 
brought  at  last  into  the  great  eternal  life. 

We  have  come  with  hymns  in  our  hearts  and  upon  our  lips  because  of 
thy  care  and  love,  thy  pity  and  protection,  and  because  our  lives  have 
been  lived  in  thy  goodness  and  have  been  held  up  by  both  thine  hands,  so 
that  until  this  hour  we  have  not  fallen  into  the  great  darkness.  We  come 
to  thee  as  the  God  of  the  Jew  and  of  the  Gentile,  the  God  of  Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  and  the  Father  of  them  that  know  thee  not,  and  the 
Redeemer  of  the  ends  of  the  earth.  We  know  thee  by  Jesus  Christ  thy 
Son  :  he  spoke  to  us  concerning  thee,  he  called  thee  Father,  he  spake  of 
thy  love,  he  told  us  that  he  himself  came  to  express  it  in  daily  humilia- 
tion, in  the  revelation  of  eternal  truth,  in  living,  in  dying,  in  sacrifice,  in 
resurrection,  and  in  priesthood,  so  that  we  come  to  thee  by  the  living  way 
and  the  only  path,  and  we  find  access  to  thy  throne  of  grace  because  of 
thy  Son  who  died  and  rose  again  for  us. 

Thou  hast  led  us  by  a  way  that  we  knew  not,  and  by  paths  we  had  not 
known  or  understood.  Thou  hast  found  for  us  bread  in  the  wilderness 
and  water  in  desert  places.  From  our  youth  upward  thou  hast  been  our 
security,  a  Light  that  none  could  extinguish  and  a  Defence  that  none 
could  violate.  We  live  and  move  and  have  our  being  in  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  bless  thee  that  through  innumer- 
able faults  and  sins,  through  manifold  infirmities  and  transgressions,  thou 
dost  still  lead  the  struggling  soul  onward  towards  complete  sonship  and 
final  deliverance  from  the  power  of  sin.  Thou  art  mindful  of  us  in  the 
darkness  as  well  as  in  the  light.  When  the  devil  falls  upon  us  with  all 
his  power,  thou  dost  not  permit  him  to  deal  upon  us  the  fatal  stroke. 
We  are  living  to  praise  thee  :  our  days  are  a  continuance  of  thy  favour, 
and  before  our  eyes  thou  hast  held  forth  the  enchantment  of  a  heavenly 
prospect.  Wherein  thou  hast  left  us  for  a  moment,  gather  us  with  ever- 
lasting kindness.     Return,  O  Lord,  to  the  many  thousands  of  Israel  ; 


MATTHEW  XXI.  23-46. 


come  back  again,  thou  whose  absence  is  an  infinite  loss,  and  fill  with  light 
the  space  thou  hast  thyself  created. 

We  can  do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  us.  We  love 
his  name,  we  are  bound  to  his  cross,  his  life  is  our  hope,  his  death  our 
sacrifice.  He  is  to  us  the  First  and  the  Last,  who  was  and  is  and  is  to 
come,  Head  over  all,  pre-eminent  in  Heaven,  reigning  over  the  univeise 
as  over  a  very  little  thing.  Fill  us  with  the  fulness  of  his  grace,  inspire 
us  with  a  sacred  ambition  to  penetrate  still  more  deeply  into  the  tender 
mysteries  of  his  truth,  and  may  the  sweet  gospel  of  his  cross  be  our  con- 
solation in  every  hour  of  life,  and  our  hope  and  our  triumph  in  the  hour 
and  article  of  death. 

We  give  ourselves  to  thee  again,  and  we  pray  for  one  another  in  all 
tender  words,  that  according  to  each  man's  pain  and  need,  some  gift  may 
be  given  from  above.  Send  none  away  unblest,  put  in  every  man's  heart 
a  new  hope,  inspire  every  soul  with  unusual  gladness,  may  thy  Holy 
Spirit  be  the  light  of  our  understanding,  the  fire  of  our  love  and  the  in- 
spiration of  our  will  and  purpose.  Sanctify  all  affliction,  infirmity,  pain, 
trouble,  and  all  the  manifold  discipline  of  this  weary  life.  May  we  be  the 
stronger  for  our  weakness,  may  the  hours  we  spend  in  darkness  give  us 
greater  appreciation  of  thy  light.  Be  with  our  friends  who  are  with  us 
from  a  distance.  Be  with  the  stranger  within  our  gates,  may  he  find  that 
this  is  none  other  than  his  Father's  house.  Take  away  from  him  all 
sense  of  solitude,  loneliness,  and  want  of  friendship,  and  seizing  the  idea 
of  the  universality  of  thy  church,  may  he,  by  the  power  of  sympathy  and 
the  divination  of  love,  find  in  this  house  the  fellowship  of  the  saints. 

Be  with  those  who  have  gone  away  from  us  for  a  time,  who  are  on  the 
great  sea,  who  are  in  far  away  lands,  who  think  of  us  now  and  mentally 
unite  their  hymns  with  ours.  The  Lord's  benediction  make  the  sea  quiet, 
and  the  Lord's  smile  make  foreign  lands  as  beautiful  as  home.  Be  with 
all  little  children  :  water  thou  the  tender  plants  in  thy  garden,  visit  every 
nursery  and  speak  some  little  word  to  little  hearers,  and  be  all  through 
the  house,  in  its  uppermost  places  and  in  its  lowest  tenements,  and  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest  may  there  be  a  spirit  of  godly  content  and  will- 
ing submission  to  thy  purpose,  and  glad  expectation  of  ultimate  deliver- 
ance and  coronation. 

Speak  with  special  graciousness  to  our  sick  ones,  who  can  scarcely  bear 
upon  their  cheek  the  breath  of  human  love.  Thou  knowest  the  way  to 
the  sinking  heart,  thou  canst  speak  to  the  closing  ear  ;  whilst  life  endures 
thy  hold  upon  it  is  certain,  and  even  when  it  passes  away  from  our  ap- 
peal, it  stands  but  the  freer  and  gladder  in  the  inner  light.  Comfort 
those  that  mourn,  may  they  be  the  richer  for  their  tears,  the  stronger  for 
their  infirmities,  and  out  of  the  buffeting  of  the  wind,  may  they  bring 
some  solid  and  lasting  strength. 

This  our  prayer  we  pray  in  the  one  name,  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth,  whom  we  took  and  with  wicked  hands  hanged  upon  a  tree,  and 
slew.     Amen. 


THE   TEXT.  113 


Matthew  xxi.  23-46. 

23.  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  temple,  the  chief  priests  and  the 
elders  of  the  people  came  unto  him  as  he  was  teaching,  and  said,  By 
what  authority  (always  conferred  by  the  scribes)  dost  thou  these  things  ? 
and  who  gave  thee  this  authority  ? 

24.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  I  also  will  ask  you  one 
thing,  which  if  ye  tell  me,  I  in  like  wise  will  tell  you  by  what  authority  I 
do  these  things. 

25.  The  baptism  of  John,  whence  was  it?  from  heaven,  or  of  men? 
And  they  reasoned  with  themselves,  saying,  If  we  shall  say,  From 
heaven  ;  he  will  say  unto  us,  Why  did  ye  not  then  believe  him  ? 

26.  But  if  we  shall  say,  Of  men  ;  we  fear  the  people  ;  for  all  hold  John 
as  a  prophet. 

27.  And  they  answered  Jesus,  and  said,  We  cannot  tell  (a  virtual  abdi- 
cation of  their  office).  And  he  said  unto  them,  Neither  tell  I  you  by  what 
authority  I  do  these  things. 

28.  But  what  think  ye  ?  A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  and  he  came  to 
the  first,  and  said,  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard. 

29.  He  answered  and  said,  I  will  not  :  but  afterwards  he  repented,  and 
went. 

30.  And  he  came  to  the  second,  and  said  likewise.  And  he  answered 
and  said,  I  go,  sir  :  and  went  not. 

31.  Whether  of  them  twain  did  the  will  of  his  father?  They  say  unto 
him,  The  first.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  That  the 
publicans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before  you. 

32.  For  John  came  unto  you  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  ye  be- 
lieved him  not :  but  the  publicans  and  the  harlots  believed  him  :  and  ye, 
when  ye  had  seen  it,  repented  not  afterward  (did  not  even  repent  after- 
ward), that  ye  might  believe  him. 

33.  Hear  another  parable  :  There  was  a  certain  householder,  which 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged  a  winepress 
in  it,  and  built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husbandmen,  and  went  into  a  far 
country  : 

34.  And  when  the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  sent  his  servants  to 
the  husbandmen,  that  they  might  receive  the  fruits  of  it. 

35.  And  the  husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and  beat  one,  and  killed 
another,  and  stoned  another. 

36.  Again,  he  sent  other  servants  more  than  the  first:  and  they  did 
unto  them  likewise. 

37.  But  last  of  all  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  saying,  They  will  rever- 
ence my  son. 

38.  But  when  the  husbandmen  saw  the  son,  they  said  among  them- 
selves, This  is  the  heir  ;  come,  let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his 
inheritance. 


114  MATTHEW  XXI.  23-46. 

39.  And  they  caught  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard,  and  slew 
him. 

40.  When  the  lord  thereof  of  the  vineyard  cometh,  what  will  he  do  unto 
those  husbandmen  ? 

41.  They  say  unto  him,  He  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked  (miser- 
able) men,  and  will  let  out  his  vineyard  unto  other  husbandmen,  which 
shall  render  him  the  fruits  in  their  seasons. 

42.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Did  ye  never  read  in  the  scriptures  (Ps. 
cxviii.  22),  The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the 
head  of  the  corner  :  this  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our 
eyes  ? 

43.  Therefore  say  I  unto  you,  The  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
from  you,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof. 

44.  And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken  (Isaiah  viii. 
14-15)  :  but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  powder. 

45.  And  when  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees  had  heard  his  parables, 
they  perceived  that  he  spake  of  them. 

46.  But  when  they  sought  to  lay  hands  on  him,  they  feared  the  multi- 
tude, because  they  took  him  for  a  prophet. 


THE  APPLICATION  OF  PARABLES. 

OBSERVE  that  the  chief  priests  and  the  elders  of  the  people 
came  to  Jesus  as  he  was  teaching.  They  interfered  with  his 
work,  and  punctuated  that  work  with  a  question  with  which  they 
intended  to  destroy  the  effect  of  the  doctrine.  It  is  so  that  our 
best  work  is  often  interrupted  and  vilely  punctuated  by  those  who 
wish  to  hinder  its  deepest  and  most  holy  success.  An  ancient 
writer  has  told  us  that  the  wolf  does  not  fly  at  a  painted  sheep. 
The  wolf  understands  his  purpose,  though  it  be  cruel,  much 
better.  So  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  and  the  elders  of  the  people 
did  not  fly  at  a  Christ  who  was  doing  nothing — they  laid  wait  for 
him,  and  according  to  their  own  estimate  of  their  opportunity  did 
they  summon  their  savage  energy  to  work  out  its  malign  purpose. 
But  when  otherwise  or  otherwhere  could  they  have  come  upon 
him  at  all  ?  He  was  always  working,  he  was  always  teaching,  he 
did  but  lift  up  his  head  for  one  moment,  and  then  his  face  glowed 
as  if  he  had  been  looking  into  a  furnace  when  -he  said,  "  Wist  ye 
not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ?"  so  that  if  evil- 
minded  men  had  to  come  upon  him  at  all,  with  any  purpose  of 
interrupting  or  destroying  his  work,  they  must  of  necessity  come 


THE  ENEMY'S  QUESTION.  115 

upon  him  in  the  intensity  of  a  .toil  that  seemed  never  to  avail  itself 
of  relaxation. 

How  will  he  answer  those  men  ?  First  he  will  heaf  what  they 
have  to  say  to  him.  What  is  their  question  ?  The  same  ques- 
tion they  have  always  been  asking.  They  have  but  one  question  to 
ask  who  come  thus  to  Christ.  They  may  indeed  devise  for  it  a 
thousandfold  variety  of  words,  but  centrally  and  substantially 
there  is  but  one  question  which  the  enemy  can  ask  for  Christ — 
' '  Who  art  thou,  or  by  what  authority  dost  thou  work,  or  who  gave 
thee  this  authority,  or  who  is  thy  Father,  or  whence  dost  thou 
come?"  He  was  the  mystery  of  his  time  :  he  is  the  mystery  of 
all  time.  He  is  there,  and  yet  he  seems  to  have  no  right  to  be 
there  :  his  credentials  are  not  written  in  official  ink,  or  signed  by 
the  official  hand,  and  yet  there  he  stands,  speaking  revelations, 
working  miracles,  his  smile  a  heaven,  his  frown  a  judgment,  and 
people  round  about  him  in  great  thick  files,  asking  who  is  he, 
whence  came  he,  by  what  authority,  quo  warranto,  who  is  this 
Man,  and  why  does  he  speak  these  great  thunder-blasts  of  judg- 
ment, or  utter  these  quiet  benedictions  of  light  ? 

Observe  how  narrow  is  the  question  put  to  Christ.  It  is  a 
question  about  authority.  Men  who  ask  narrow  questions  can 
never  be  in  earnest  upon  great  subjects.  I  venture  thus  to  con- 
dense into  one  sentence  what  I  might  speak  to  you  in  words  of 
many  volumes.  Coming  to  the  Bible,  coming  to  Christ,  with  any 
little,  narrow,  pedantic  question,  you  never  can  grapple  with  the 
magnificent  occasion  or  extract  from  the  Book  or  the  Man  the 
vital  secret. 

Jesus  will  answer  you  according  to  your  question.  You  yourself 
determine  the  speech  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  whenever  you  are  pre- 
pared to  begin  he  will  begin  with  you.  How  he  can  tantalise, 
how  he  can  test  the  inquirer,  how  he  can  spoil  the  spoiler,  how  he 
can  hold  up  to  suppressed  ridicule  the  man  who  would  come  to 
him  with  taunting  questions  !  If  you  have  received  no  great 
broad  gleaming  answer  of  love  and  redemption  from  the  Bible,  it 
is  because  you  have  come  to  it  with  some  little  narrow  question. 
Ask  if  the  Book  will  submit  itself  to  some  theory  of  inspiration, 
and  it  may  possibly  mock  you.  Say  to  the  Book,  "  I  have  a 
theory  by  which  I  would  test  thee,"  and  the  Book  will  be  dumb 
with   silence   you   cannot   break.     But   come  frankly,   with  the 


Ii6  MATTHEW  XXI.  23-46. 

nakedness  of  absolute  moral  destitution,  without  excuse  or  plea  or 
self-defence,  and  knock  with  bruised  fingers  upon  the  door  of 
your  Father's  house,  and  angels  will  open  it,  and  all  the  store  of 
the  house  will  be  yours,  and  your  very  hunger  will  be  turned  into 
the  supreme  blessing  of  your  life.  Ye  have  not  because  ye  ask 
not,  or  because  ye  ask  amiss.  Had  these  men  of  the  text  set 
themselves  down  like  so  many  docile  children  saying,  "  O  Peasant 
of  Galilee,  Man  of  Nazareth,  Mystery  of  the  time,  yet  gentle, 
wise,  true,  beneficent,  tell  us  what  is  in  thine  heart,"  he  would 
have  answered  them  as  he  answered  Nicodemus.  Nicodemus 
came  to  him  in  the  dark,  and  Christ  showed  him  all  the  wealth  of 
the  stars,  and  made  the  heaven  so  bright  that  it  was  no  longer  a 
nocturnal  interview,  but  a  conversation  held  in  a  light  above  the 
brightness  of  the  sun.  You  would  have  more  revelation  if  you  had 
treated  the  Bible  properly  :  you  would  have  ampler  entrance  into 
the  upper  courts  if  you  had  gone  to  God  with  some  bold  prayer 
of  penitence  and  high  inspiration  of  expectant  and  contrite  love. 

Let  us  see  how  far  Jesus  Christ  is  true  to  the  development  through 
which  we  have  watched  him  in  all  these  studies.  How  will  he 
answer  men  now  P  His  teaching  was  always  determined  by  the 
time  and  circumstances  surrounding  him.  Look  how  true  he  is 
to  himself.  He  is  still  going  to  make  parables,  but  the  parables 
represent  him  in  a  new  light.  When  we  studied  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  this  gospel,  we  thought  we  had  passed  through  the  pict- 
ure-gallery of  the  church,  and  seen  all  its  most  beauteous  repre- 
sentations of  light  and  shade  and  hue  and  tone.  We  were 
charmed  with  the  infinite  suggestiveness  and  fertility  of  the  Man's 
invention  and  power  of  utterance.  So  when  we  closed  the  thir- 
teenth chapter,  we  were  as  men  who  descended  from  a  great  gal- 
lery of  divinely  painted  pictures,  and  behold  in  this  very  twenty- 
first  chapter  we  have  parables  again.  But  observe  how  the  Speaker 
of  them  has  changed.  In  these  parables  you  catch  the  tone  of 
judgment :  here  are  judicial  parables  as  well  as  parables  illustrative 
of  great  historical  and  moral  truth.  Never  can  you  catch  this  Man 
off  his  guard  ;  his  word  is  always  true  to  his  feeling.  Nearer  the 
cross  now  than  ever  he  was  before,  his  word  is  accentuated  by 
sharper  emphasis,  and  through  all  the  beauty  of  his  parable  there 
gleams  some  forelight  of  the  great  judgment  fire. 

In  these  facts  find  the  proof  of  the  Lord' s  deity.     In  such  subtle 


GOD'S  RATIONAL   JUSTICE.  117 

consistency  as  this  find  at  least  the  beginning  of  an  argument 
which  will  land  you  in  the  conviction  that,  whilst  never  man  spake 
like  this  Man,  the  unusualness  of  his  speech  came  out  of  the 
unusualness  of  his  nature.  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  the  only 
Revealer  of  the  Father,  his  companion  through  all  eternity,  the 
Angel  0/ the  Covenant  in  one  age,  the  Wisdom  of  another,  the  Com- 
ing One  of  all  time — God  the  Son. 

Observe  how  he  speaks  to  these  men  judicially,  and  how  all  the 
while  he  proceeds  along  the  safe  and  obvious  basis  of  reason  and 
justice.  These  two  parables,  as  well  as  the  answer  about  John, 
are  illustrations  of  the  rational  justice  upon  which  God's  kingdom 
amongst  men  is  based.  "  A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  and 
he  came  to  the  first,  and  said,  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vine- 
yard. He  answered  and  said,  I  will  not  :  but  afterward  he  re- 
pented,  and  went.  And  he  came  to  the  second,  and  said  likewise. 
And  he  answered  and  said,  I  go,  sir  :  and  went  not.  Whether  of 
them  twain  did  the  will  of  his  father  ?  They  say  unto  him,  the 
first."  He  put  a  case  before  them  which  was  apparently  not  re. 
ligious.  Here  we  find  our  right  and  title  oftentimes,  to  occupy 
secular  or  outside  ground,  in  illustrating  and  defending  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  In  such  parables  as  these,  we  find  the  range  of  the 
great  Teacher's  tether.  He  is  not  bound  within  a  few  inches  :  he 
may  take  his  stand  on  the  uttermost  point  of  the  horizon,  and 
finding  an  admission  there  he  may  apply  it  to  the  whole  course 
and  tenor  of  human  life  within  the  ample  circle,  until  it  creates  a 
judgment-seat  before  which  to  try  the  sons  of  men. 

Here  is  hope  for  some  of  us.  The  narrow  technical  mind  can 
never  repent.  This  comes  out  of  the  very  necessity  of  the  case.  Nar- 
rowness and  technicality  never  can  get  into  the  region  of  emotion. 
Find  a  man  who  is  a  stickler  for  a  form  of  words,  merely  because 
it  is  venerable,  and  you  find  a  man  who  is  incapable  of  enthusiasm, 
and  incapability  of  enthusiasm  is  only  another  form  of  the  solemn 
truth  that  some  men  are  incapable  of  repentance.  Beware  how  you 
become  the  slaves  of  merely  literal  forms  and  special  places  and 
peculiar  ceremonies  :  do  not  become  men  of  the  letter,  after  this 
narrow  sense  of  the  term.  Here  you  find  men  who  are  anxious 
about  mere  authority — they  never  can  be  other  than  purists  and 
pedants.     You  may  be  correct  and  yet  incorrect  at  the  same  time. 


Ii8  MATTHEW  XXL  23-46. 

You  may  be  right  and  may  be  wrong  in  the  very  same  breath.  If 
a  man  should  say  that  the  earth  stands  still,  he  is  right  within 
given  limits,  and  yet  he  totally  misrepresents  the  condition  of  the 
earth  when  he  puts  it  before  his  mind,  and  before  the  observation 
of  others  as  a  stationary  body.  Consider  it  well  :  the  earth  stands 
still  and  I  can  build  upon  it.  So  far  you  are  literally  correct,  and 
yet  it  is  not  correct  to  represent  the  earth  as  standing  still  for  one 
solitary  moment.  So  a  man  may  be  a  purist  and  a  pedant  in  the 
letter,  and  may  know  nothing  about  the  infinite  beauty  and  sug- 
gestiveness  and  redeemingness  of  the  inner  gospel  of  Christ. 

Do  not  look  at  the  literal  authority,  look  at  the  things  that  are 
done,  and  if  the  things  are  done,  acknowledge  them,  and  do  not 
say  that  you  pay  more  respect  to  the  authority  than  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  fact.  If  a  man  is  converted  in  his  inner  think- 
ing, in  his  moral  purpose,  in  the  whole  set  and  tone  of  his  mind,  I 
will  not  inquire  into  the  authority  of  the  man  through  whose  in- 
strumentality that  grand  fact  was  accomplished.  He  may  have 
the  right  to  say  to  me  in  all  justice,  "  Believe  me  for  the  work's 
sake."  That  was  Jesus  Christ's  own  appeal.  When  a  man 
comes  before  you  with  nothing  but  authority,  and  no  issues  follow 
to  attest  and  complete  it,  then  set  light  by  what  he  terms  his  cre- 
dentials. 

Now  these  men  were  men  of  authority,  the  victims  of  tradition, 
the  creatures  of  conventionality,  and  therefore  it  was  impossible 
for  them  ever  to  change  their  minds.  Take  care  how  you  join  that 
company  :  you  will  be  clever  but  not  great,  you  will  have  skill 
within  a  limited  scope,  but  to  your  ability  there  will  be  no  range, 
no  mystery  of  distance,  no  suggestiveness  of  perspective — you  will 
be  simply  strategic,  clever,  skilful,  acrobatic,  but  wanting  in  the 
infinite  genius  that  lays  hold  of  God  at  unexpected  places,  and 
finds  tabernacles  for  Him  where  others  had  suspected  but  the 
wastes  of  the  wilderness. 

On  the  other  hand  the  impulsive  man  is  always  repenting.  He 
said  at  first,  "I  will  not."  That  was  impulsive.  I  knew  by  the 
very  urgency  of  his  tone  that  he  was  a  better  man  than  he  repre- 
sented himself  to  be.  If  he  had  uttered  that  sentence  slowly  but 
with  deliberate,  lingering  emphasis,  I  should  have  had  but  little 
confidence  in  his  change — but  no  sooner  was  the  proposition 
made  to  him  that  he  should  go  and  work  in  the  vineyard,  than 


ROUGH  AND    REAL  MEN.  119 

flashingly,  with  the  instancy  of  lightning,  he  said,  "  I  will  not." 
I  knew  by  his  tone  that  he  would  go  !  There  are  some  men  that 
misrepresent  themselves — that  cannot  be  understood  as  to  their 
furthest  and  deepest  meaning.  Have  faith  in  some  kinds  of  bad 
men.  Have  no  faith  in  some  kinds  of  so-called  good  men. 
Understand  the  character  in  its  inner  essence  and  substance,  and 
then,  though  there  be  a  thousand  infirmities  and  manifold  positive 
sins,  as  in  the  case  of  Abraham  and  David  and  Peter,  and  all  the 
great  princes  and  leaders  of  the  Church,  there  will  be  such  an  ulti- 
mate attestation  that  the  divine  seed  was  in  the  heart  as  no  true 
witness  can  dispute  or  contravene. 

Do  I  speak  to  any  man  who  has  wildly  told  God  that  he  would 
not  be  good  ?  I  have  faith  in  that  man.  Let  us  cheer  him  :  I  like 
him  in  many  aspects  of  his  character  :  he  did  not  mean  the  rude- 
ness or  the  violence  or  the  blasphemy — he  will  think  better  of  it 
and  come  to  better  terms.  Do  I  speak  to  some  who  are  always 
falling  down,  who  begin  to  pray  and  forget  midway  what  they  in- 
tended to  say  ?  Do  I  speak  to  any  poor  bruised,  broken  heart, 
that  is  always  bringing  itself  right  into  collision  with  some  cruel 
obstacle  or  hindrance  ?  I  would  speak  comfortably  to  such.  I 
have  known  such  among  the  very  best  people  in  the  world.  Do 
not  be  discouraged  or  cast  down.  You  ask  no  little  peddling 
questions  about  authority,  you  do  not  go  into  the  question  of 
official  ink  and  prescriptive  signature — you  are  real,  and  you  want 
reality,  and  when  you  have  done  your  worst,  no  man  condemns 
you  so  much  as  you  condemn  yourself.  I  shall  find  you  one  day 
with  your  eyes  melted  into  great  hot  tears,  standing  a  little  way 
outside  the  door,  asking  if  after  all  you  may  not  come  in — and 
come  in  you  shall,  come  in  you  will  !  If  men  were  turned  out 
because  of  errors  and  sins  like  yours,  heaven  itself  would  be  but  a 
wooden  place  filled  with  wooden  saints.  No,  in  you  and  through 
you  Christ  shall  come  into  his  great  broad  human  inheritance.  Is 
the  seed  in  you,  is  the  right  purpose  in  you,  when  you  sin  do  you 
judge  yourself  and  send  yourself  to  hell  ?  When  you  have  got 
wrong  do  you  sentence  your  soul  to  a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone 
where  the  devils  are  and  the  hot  chains  and  the  eternal  burnings  ? 
If  so,  Christ  shall  yet  have  hold  of  you— none  shall  pluck  you  out 
of  his  hand.  Out  upon  those  who  cry  for  mere  authority  and 
stand  upon  official  conventionalism  in  the  things  pertaining  to  this 


MATTHEW  XXI.  23-46. 


inner  kingdom  ;  and  a  welcome,  broad  as  the  firmament,  bright 
as  the  sun,  to  every  prodigal  heart  that  comes  in  and  says,  "  I 
said  I  would  not  go,  but  I  want  to  come,  after  all.  Open  the 
door  and  let  me  in."      He  will  work  well  because  he  means  it  well. 

"  Hear  another  parable,"  said  Christ,  which  was  inviting  the 
men  into  a  second  thunderstorm.  Hear  another  parable — it  was 
asking  them  to  bind  themselves  again  to  the  whipping-post  till  he 
scourged  them  with  thongs  of  scorpions.  He  calls  it  a  parable — it 
burns  like  a  judgment.  He  says  it  is  a  picture,  but  as  they  look, 
the  fire  bursts  out  of  it,  and  scorches  their  beholding  faces.  In 
every  Gospel  there  is  a  judgment,  as  in  every  offer  of  mercy  there 
is  the  possibility  of  a  development  of  obstinacy  that  will  end  in 
penalty.  Hear  another  parable.  If  he  had  said  so  to  us  in  the 
thirteenth  chapter  of  the  gospel,  we  should  have  said,  "  Yes,  and 
gladly — ten  thousand  more,  for  they  are  like  new  stars  hung  up 
on  the  background  of  night's  gloom,"  but  now  we  hesitate. 
Another  parable  ?  Another  fire,  another  judgment,  another  revela- 
tion of  ourselves  to  ourselves  ! 

Then  comes  the  parable  of  the  householder  who  planted  the 
vineyard,  claimed  the  fruit,  sent  his  servants  for  it,  last  of  all  des- 
patched his  son  to  bring  the  fruit  of  the  husbandmen,  who  acted 
rudely,  violently,  and  with  fatal  cruelty.  Then  said  Jesus, 
' '  What  shall  be  done  to  these  men  ?' '  It  was  another  secular 
instance,  it  was  another  instance  of  his  extra-ecclesiastical  or  theo- 
logical reasoning,  and  these  men,  who  were  sharp  in  the  market- 
place, clever  in  following  the  lines  of  an  analogy,  and  a  jagged  kind 
of  rude  justice  towards  ill-behaving  servants,  admitted  that  if  the 
case  were  as  the  Speaker  put  it,  there  was  nothing  for  those  miser- 
able husbandmen  but  to  be  destroyed,  Jesus  said,  "  Have  ye 
never  read  in  the  scriptures,  The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected, 
the  same  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner  :  this  is  the  Lord's 
doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes  "?  The  rejection  was  but 
for  the  moment,  but  God's  elections  will  come  up  in  the  outgo 
and  expenditure  of  the  ages.  He  works  by  centuries,  he  breathes 
aeons  and  epochs  of  a  thousand  years  apiece,  but  'he  surely  brings 
his  purpose  to  its  culmination. 

He  did  not  himself  apply  the  matter  further.  When  they  began 
to  think  of  it,  they  said,  "  He  means  us.     Kill  him.     We  dare 


NOTES.  121 

not,  or  the  people  would  kill  us."  Sometimes  in  judging  a  case 
of  human  justice,  we  award  the  penalty  to  ourselves,  and  inflict  the 
judgment  upon  our  own  hearts.  Let  us  take  care  lest  we  bring 
upon  ourselves  the  double  damnation  of  admitting  the  logic  in  a 
secular  case  and  endeavouring  to  elude  its  application  in  spiritual 
instances. 

Still  he  is  judge  then  ;  and  yet  I  could  not  leave  these  parables 
with  any  hope,  if  I  did  not  search  further  into  them  to  see  if  the 
dear,  sweet-souled,  loving-hearted  Christ  were  not  in  them  some- 
where— not  in  the  authority,  not  in  the  son  that  would  go  and  did 
not,  not  in  the  wicked  husbandmen — yet  he  must  be  here  some- 
where, I  know  he  must  even  yet  speak  some  sweet  gospel  word. 
Here  it  is  :  "  The  publicans  and  the  harlots  believed  him  :  the 
publicans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before 
you  :  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  given  to  a  nation  bringing 
forth  the  fruits  thereof."  There  is  the  same  Christ,  the  Christ  that 
cast  out  devils,  the  Christ  that  gave  a  new  chance  in  life  to  the 
woman  taken  in  adultery,  the  Christ  that  expelled  from  the  heart 
of  Mary  Magdalene  the  tenants  that  diabolised  her.  This  is  the 
Christ  of  hope — this  is  the  Man  that  dined  with  publicans  and 
sinners.  Fearful  as  coming  from  his  lips  at  that  time  this  utter- 
ance to  the  priests,  the  chief-priests,  the  elders  of  the  people,  as 
who  should  say,  "  Gentlemen,  so-called  in  your  own  esteem,  you 
who  hold  the  keys  of  the  church  and  the  writings  of  the  sanctuary, 
ye  shall  never  go  into  the  secret,  sacred  place,  but  shall  be  driven 
out,  and  publicans,  sinners,  harlots  ;  bruised,  wounded  prodigals, 
naked,  shoeless,  coatless,  penniless — all  tears,  all  sorrow — with 
such  outcasts  shall  God  fill  his  house,  and  ye  proud  mockers  shall 
be  damned. ' ' 


SELECTED   NOTES. 

Verse  27. — "And  they  answered,  that  they  could  7iot  tell  whence  it  was." 
"They  answered."     Wicked  regard  not  a  lie,  serving  their  purpose. 
' '  Could  not  tell. ' '     Gr.  they  did  not  know. 

He  compelled  them  to  pronounce  their  own  sentence,  as  incompetent  to 
Jill  Moses'  seat. 

It  they  cannot  answer  one  here,  can  they  a  thousand  ?     Job  ix.  3. 
Caught  in  a  hard  alternative  ;  extricated  by  an  act  of  desperation. 


122  MATTHEW  XXI.  23-46. 

They  were  thus  convicted  by  all  of  gross  hypocrisy. 

Elements  of  their  future  vengeance  were  slowly  gathering. 

Before  the  Lord,  all  the  world  must  keep  silence.     Hab.  ii.  20. 

These  "  great  knowers"  who  have  always  their  "  we  know"  at  hand, 
for  once,  after  their  arrogant  question,  say  with  shame,  in  the  presence 
of  the  people,  "  We  know  not." 

Many  a  so-called  "  honest  doubter,*'  against  his  own  conviction,  resem- 
bles them,  i.e.,  they  know  it  well,  but  "  will  not  say  it." 

Thousands  will  say  anything,  rather  than  "  we  are  7vrong." 

Gehazi,  Ananias,  and  Sapphira  have  more  imitators  than  Peter  or 
Paul. 

The  unrenewed  often  feel  more  than  they  confess. 

Knowing  the  Gospel  true,  they  want  courage  to  confess  it. 

They  know  Christianity  is  right,  but  are  too  proud  to  say  it. 

They  pretend  to  judge  Christ's  mission,  and  cannot  tell  even  that  of 
John. 

Those  who  imprison  the  truth  stifle  conviction. 

This  declaration  made  them  cease  to  be  a  Sanhedrim. 

After  this  they  were  to  Jesus  only  as  usurpers.. 

The  people  could  have  answered  without  hesitation. 

Rulers'  refusal  showed  a  want  of  courage  and  honesty. 

Jesus  and  John  were  not  their  kind  of  prophets. 


LXXX. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  hast  today  spread  a  great  feast  for  men  :  may 
we  all  come  to  it  and  sit  down  in  the  places  thou  hast  set  apart  for  us, 
and  eat  and  drink  abundantly,  according  to  thine  invitation.  We  have 
spent  our  strength  for  naught  and  our  money  for  that  which  satisfieth  not, 
and  our  hunger  is  fierce  within  us,  and  our  desire  is  still  crying  for  satis- 
faction. Thou  hast  now  called  us  to  thine  own  table,  spread  with  thine 
own  hands,  made  rich  with  all  the  needful  things  which  thou  hast  found 
in  the  universe  :  may  we  sit  down  and  be  glad  in  the  Lord,  and  drink 
the  wine  of  his  grace  abundantly,  and  enjoy  the  security  and  the  light  of 
his  dwelling-place.  Thou  hast  opened  the  door,  which  is  Jesus  Christ 
the  Son  of  God,  God  the  Son  :  thou  hast  given  unto  us  of  the  rich  things 
of  creation,  of  which  he,  the  Saviour,  is  the  one  Head  :  in  him  we  have  all 
things,  through  him  and  by  him,  and  alone  through  him  and  by  him  do 
we  enjoy  this  table  of  thine,  spread  with  all  that  can  satisfy  our  hunger 
and  delight  our  soul.  We  said  in  the  far-away  land,  "  How  many  hired 
servants  of  my  Father's  have  bread  enough  and  to  spare,  and  1  perish 
with  hunger  :  I  will  arise  and  go  to  my  Father."  Lord,  see  us  at  thy 
door,  hear  our  voices,  broken  by  the  sobs  of  our  penitence,  and  give  us 
welcome  into  thy  sanctuary  and  into  thy  banqueting  house.  We  have 
been  out  in  the  cold  wind,  and  in  the  desolate  world,  and  behold  the  wil- 
derness is  full  of  graves,  and  in  the  rocks  there  is  no  resting-place.  We 
have  not  found  bread  in  stony  places,  nor  water  on  the  hill-tops,  so  bleak 
and  cold,  but  now  we  are  at  thy  door  thou  wilt  give  us  large  and  instant 
admission  :  thou  wilt  not  withhold  any  good  thing  from  us  whilst  we  cry 
for  thy  pity  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 

We  are  glad  that  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men  upon  the  earth,  that 
the  walls  of  thine  house  are  a  support  of  the  walls  of  our  dwelling-place 
that  we  cannot  move  about  without  seeing  the  church  of  the  living  God  set 
in  divers  places.  We  open  the  door  of  righteousness  and  the  gate  of  sal- 
vation, and  we  enter  in  and  we  find  in  thine  house  sweetness,  repose, 
light,  and  inspiration. 

We  have  come  to  tell  thee  of  our  sin  and  our  sorrow,  to  repent  of  our 
iniquities  and  to  ask  for  thy  forgiveness,  and  to  pour  out  all  the  tale  of 
our  sorrow  at  the  feet  of  the  all-healing  Christ.  Thou  canst  read  in  our 
Tieart  what  we  cannot  speak  with  our  lips,  thou  understandest  our  neces- 
sity and  there  is  nothing  in  all  the  agony  of  our  pain  which  thou  hast  not 
felt.     We  have  a  High  Priest  that  can  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 


124  MATTHEW  XX I L  1-14. 

infirmity  :  he  knoweth  our  frame,  he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust,  he 
accounteth  our  life  as  a  wind  that  cometh  for  a  little  time  and  then  pass- 
eth  away,  or  as  a  vapour  which  dies  as  it  ascends.  He  will  not  remember 
wrath  in  the  time  that  he  remembers  mercy,  but  in  all  pitifulness,  com- 
passion, tender  patience,  and  long-suffering  hopefulness,  he  will  mightily 
redeem  our  soul  from  despair,  and  bring  light  instead  of  darkness. 

We  remember  the  years  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High.  We  hide 
our  little  transient  duration  in  the  sanctuary  of  thine  eternity.  Behold 
we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf,  and  our  iniquities,  like  the  wind,  have  taken  us 
away.  We  are  likened  unto  the  grass  which  to-day  is  and  to-morrow  is 
cast  into  the  oven,  unto  a  flower  which  flourisheth  for  a  little  time  and 
then  dies  away.  Behold  thou  hast  not  mocked  us,  but  thou  hast  told  us 
of  the  littleness  of  our  time  upon  the  earth,  thou  hast  pointed  out  to  us 
our  already  opened  grave,  thou  hast  called  upon  us  to  buy  up  the  oppor- 
tunity, and  eagerly  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  occasion  whilst  it  endures. 
Thy  way  is  simple,  and  thy  testimony  is  true  and  easy  to  be  understood. 
If  we  are  mocked,  we  have  mocked  ourselves,  we  have  not  been  mocked 
from  on  high.  What  misreckoning  there  is  in  our  calculation  is  due  to 
our  own  ignorance  and  unskilfulness,  for  thou  hast  set  down  our  time  of 
threescore  years  and  ten,  and  thou  hast  called  upon  us  to  redeem  the  time 
and  to  consider  the  days  how  few  they  are  and  short.  We  bless  thee  that 
though  the  shortness  of  the  time  is  present  to  us,  we  see  death  swallowed 
up  in  victory,  and  the  great  eternity  of  heaven  opening  itself  before  our 
desire  and  our  hope,  and  there  we  hear  the  voices  of  welcome  and  the  call 
to  a  feast  which  never  ends.  May  none  of  us  fall  short  of  thy  purpose 
herein — may  none  of  us  by  unbelief  be  disappointed  at  the  last,  but  may 
every  one  of  us  and  all  near  and  dear  unto  us,  sit  down  with  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  light  and  the  house  of  eternity,  to 
go  out  no  more  for  ever.  To  this  end  may  we  read  thy  word  diligently, 
consider  it  deeply,  and  carry  it  out  continually,  and  to  this  end  do  thou 
grant  unto  us  the  daily  ministry  of  the  Holy  Ghost — may  he  dwell  in  us, 
enlighten  us,  rule  and  guide  us  in  everything,  and  undertake  the  adminis- 
tration of  our  whole  life  in  its  innermost  thought  and  purpose  and  motive. 

We  give  thee  thanks  for  every  hope  that  lights  our  life,  we  bless  thee 
for  everything  that  floats  down  the  air  from  Heaven  upon  our  silent  souls, 
to  charm  them  into  grateful  repose.  For  all  the  sainted  dead  we  bless 
thee,  for  our  fathers  in  the  church  who  have  gone  to  the  upper  assembly, 
for  our  loved  ones  who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb — may  we  be  followers  of  their  faith,  and  be  ulti- 
mate sharers  of  their  joy.  Comfort  those  who  now  mourn  their  dead  and 
look  round  to  see  faces  that  can  be  seen  on  earth  no  more.  Grant  unto 
such  the  tender  solaces  of  thy  gospels,  the  sweet  and  lasting  inspiration 
and  comfort  of  thy  grace. 

Let  thy  word  be  amongst  us  this  morning  as  a  summer  light,  touching 
every  point  of  our  life,  and  lighting  it  all  up  with  a  tender  and  celestial 
illumination.     May  there  be  great  joy  in  the  church,  the  sound  of  song 


THE   TEXT.  125 

and  high  delight  within  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord,  and  when  men  ask  us 
the  reason  of  this  rapture,  may  we  find  it  in  the  closeness  of  our  fellow- 
ship with  the  very  heart  of  the  Son  of  God.  Deliver  every  man  from 
bondage,  and  every  soul  from  mean  and  unworthy  fear.  Dispel  all 
dejection  and  gloom  and  hopelessness,  and  in  our  hearts  do  thou  cause 
us  to  hear  a  new  and  gladsome  song. 

Give  laughter  to  the  young,  high  delight  and  brilliant  hopefulness  to 
those  who  are  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  give  chastening  and  mellowness 
to  those  who  are  farther  on,  so  that  without  moroseness  or  sourness  of 
disposition  or  of  heart,  they  may  speak  with  all  sobriety  of  the  mysteri- 
ousness  and  grandeur  of  life.  And  to  the  aged  and  the  dying,  who  have 
gone  upstairs  to  come  down  of  themselves  no  more,  speak  gentle  words, 
breathe  benedictions,  send  messages  from  Heaven,  make  the  heart  young 
whilst  the  body  dies,  and  give  hope  that  the  soul  shall,  through  Jesus 
Christ,  Saviour  and  Mediator,  enjoy  the  summer  of  Heaven,  the  rest,  the 
peace  of  the  upper  places  of  thy  kingdom.     Amen. 


Matthew  xxii.  1-14. 

1.  And  Jesus  answered  and  spake  unto  them  again  by  parables,  and 
said, 

2.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king,  which  made  a 
marriage  for  his  son. 

3.  And  sent  forth  his  servants  to  call  them  that  were  bidden  to  the 
wedding  :  and  they  would  not  come. 

4.  Again,  he  sent  forth  other  servants,  saying,  Tell  them  wlrch  are 
bidden,  Behold,  I  have  prepared  my  dinner  :  my  oxen  and  my  fallings 
are  killed  (Isa.  xxv.  6),  and  all  things  are  ready  :  come  unto  the  mar- 
riage. 

5.  But  they  made  light  of  it,  and  went  their  ways,  one  to  his  farm,  an- 
other to  his  merchandise  : 

6.  And  the  remnant  took  his  servants,  and  entreated  them  spitefully, 
and  slew  them. 

7.  But  when  the  king  heard  thereof,  he  was  wroth  :  and  he  sent  forth 
his  armies,  and  destroyed  those  murderers,  and  burned  up  their  city. 

8.  Then  saith  he  to  his  servants,  The  wedding  is  ready,  but  they  which 
were  bidden  were  not  worthy. 

9.  Go  ye  therefore  into  the  highways,  and  as  many  as  ye  shall  find,  bid 
to  the  marriage. 

10.  So  these  servants  went  out  into  the  highways,  and  gathered  together 
all  as  many  as  they  found,  both  bad  and  good  :  and  the  wedding  was  fur- 
nished with  guests. 

11.  And  when  the  king  came  in  to  see  (not  merely  to  look  at,  but  to  in- 
spect) the  guests,  he  saw  there  a  man  which  had  not  on  a  wedding  gar- 
ment. 


126  MATTHEW  XXII.  1-14. 

12.  And  he  saith  unto  him.  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither  not  hav- 
ing a  wedding  garment  ?     And  he  was  speechless  (gagged). 

13.  Then  said  the  king  to  the  servants,  Bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and 
take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into  outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

14.  For  many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen. 

GOD'S  WELCOMES  AND  MAN'S  REFUSALS. 

NOTICE  the  change  in  the  tone  of  the  parables.  The  par- 
ables are  not  all  of  one  class,  though  they  all  seem  to  be 
of  one  meaning  and  intent.  Compare  the  parables  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  this  gospel  with  the  parables  that  are  now  before  us, 
and  see  what  a  wonderful  change  has  taken  place  in  the  tone  of 
the  Speaker.  Whilst  he  was  uttering  his  doctrine,  delineating  and 
exemplifying  his  gospel  and  offering  it  to  all  mankind ,«it  was  like 
a  grain  of  mustard-seed,  it  was  like  a  sower  going  forth  to  sow  seed 
in  various  places,  or  like  a  leaven  hidden  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  or  like  a  net  cast  into  the  sea  which  gathered  of  every  kind. 
Now  the  parables  are  judgments  :  something  has  taken  place  be- 
tween the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Matthew  and  the  later  chapters. 
The  kingdom  of  heaven  assumes  another  colour,  speaks  in  another 
accent,  exhibits  itself  in  another  phase.  So  wonderful  is  this 
kingdom — it  is  to  you  what  j>ou  are  to  it :  you  determine  the  atti- 
tude of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  towards  yourselves.  Be  needy,  be 
docile,  be  expectant  of  heavenly  blessings,  and  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  a  great  warm  heaven  shining  upon  all  your  life  and 
offering  you  all  its  contents.  Be  rebellious,  frivolous,  contemp- 
tuous, self-sufficient,  and  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  dark  with 
unspeakable  tempests,  ready  to  burst  upon  your  life  with  over- 
powering destructiveness. 

How  if  Jesus  Christ  saw  the  kingdom  of  heaven  vary  to  his 
imagination  and  high  fancy  as  the  time  bore  him  onward  to  the 
cross  ?  How  if  he  closed  his  eyes  and  compared  the  outward  with 
the  inward,  as  if  he  should  say,  "  Now  I  see  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  like  a  man  going  forth  to  sow  seed,  and  now  I  see  it  like  a 
great  judgment.  Now  it  is  like  leaven  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  and  now  it  is  like  a  king  taking  account  of  his  servants"? 
He  would  be  the  great  reader,  the  very  seer  which  the  times  need  ; 
the  eloquent  soul  clothed  with  prophetic  mantle  and  speaking  in 


THE  CONSISTENCY  OF  THE  PARABLES.  127 

the  thousand  tones  of  apocalyptic  language,  who  could  see  what 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  by  correctly  penetrating  the  spirit  of 
his  age  and  rightly  reading  all  the  meaning  of  the  times  passing 
over  him.  It  is  open  to  us  to  make  parables  according  to  the 
suggestion  of  events.  Jesus  Christ  only  begins  the  parables.  He 
ended  the  miracles,  he  only  began  the  parables,  and  it  is  for  us  to 
carry  out  those  parables  and  multiply  them  according  to  the  ever- 
varying  colour  and  tone  of  the  times  in  which  we  live.  If  so,  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  will  be  like  a  summer  day,  like  a  winter  night, 
like  an  angel  of  hopefulness,  blowing  a  silver  trumpet  and  calling 
to  a  high  banquet,  or  like  a  spirit,  black,  grim,  fierce,  vengeful, 
going  forth  to  execute  divine  judgment  upon  stony  hearts  and 
rebellious  lives. 

Think  not  that  the  parables  are  ended.  Truth  has  no  conclu- 
sions, truth  stops  only  to  begin  again  :  the  miracle  rounds  itself 
up,  or  floats  away  like  a  gilded  bubble  and  dies,  but  truth  is  a 
planet  that  belongs  to  the  very  centre  of  the  system  of  things  :  it 
shines  in  the  almightiness  of  God,  and  is  re-fed,  re-invigorated, 
from  age  to  age,  and  grows  younger  with  the  time,  and  is  more 
blooming  after  millenniums  than  when  it  first  began  to  discover 
itself  to  the  expectant  mind.  Make  your  own  parables  :  do  not 
read  the  weather  only,  read  the  signs  of  the  times.  Be  not  learned 
in  the  clouds,  but  learned  in  bodies  celestial  and  in  signs  terres- 
trial, and  in  all  your  reading  see  some  hint  and  outline  of  the 
divine  kingdom. 

Mark  through  the  changes  that  the  parables  pass,  the  king  is 
never  less  than  king,  and  the  heaven  never  other  than  a  kingdom. 
He  will  take  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  will  this  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Teacher,  through  all  similitudes,  but  the  king  is  never  less  than 
royal,  and  the  thing  spoken  of  is  never  less  than  kingly.  Is  it  a 
sower  going  forth  to  sow  ?  He  represents  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Is  it  a  net  cast  into  the  midst  of  the  sea,  so  humble  and  poor  a 
thing  as  that  ?  Yes,  but  it  bears  upon  it  the  similitude  of  a  divine 
kingdom.  The  subject  never  lowers  its  dignity,  the  thing  spoken 
of  never  falls  below  the  royal  mark.  Observe  that,  for  it  is  full  of 
suggestion.  Whether  the  king  is  coming  to  reign  or  coming  to 
judge,  whether  he  be  mocked  by  his  servants  or  kept  standing  out- 
side the  door  knocking  till  his  hair  be  wet  with  the  dews  of  the 


128  MATTHEW  XXII.  1-14. 

night,  he  is  still  the  King,  and  the  thing  he  brings  is  still  the 
heavenly  kingdom.  Where  there  is  humiliation  there  is  no  dis- 
grace :  the  stoop  is  a  royal  one,  and  however  humble  and  simple 
the  similitude,  it  is  like  a  dewdrop  that  throws  back  the  image  of 
the  whole  sun. 

So  in  our  simplicity  we  may  have  dignity,  in  the  very  humblest 
for?n  through  which  we  may  pass  our  religious  conceptions,  they 
need  never  lose  the  grandeur  of  kingship  or  the  splendour  of 
royalty.  In  the  simplest  hymn  sung  to  the  simplest  tune  there 
may  be  the  beginning  of  all  heaven's  harmony.  In  the  quiet, 
silent  stoop  of  the  head,  bending  down  in  the  attitude  of  prayer, 
without  pomp  or  ceremony,  there  may  be  the  beginning  of  the 
homage  that  makes  heaven  sacred.  See  that  you  do  not  find  in 
simplicity  any  degradation  of  the  thing  signified — sowing  seed, 
casting  a  net  into  the  sea,  permeating  meal  with  leaven,  finding 
pearls  or  treasures, — whatever  you  are  doing,  remember  that  the 
thing  signified  gives  to  the  thing  spoken  and  the  thing  done  their 
natural  measure  of  grandeur  and  sublimity.  See  in  the  church 
more  than  the  stones  and  iron,  the  wood  and  glass.  These  things 
do  not  make  the  church  ;  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto 
them,  but  if  you  seize  the  right  idea  of  the  edifice  it  will  burn  and 
glow  and  shine  with  infinite  suggestion  of  comfort  and  meaning 
and  hope.  Let  us  not  be  wooden  in  God's  house,  literal  and  finite, 
mechanical  and  measurable,  but  pray  for  that  inward  vision  that 
sees  in  every  stone  a  son  of  Abraham,  and  hears  in  all  the  building 
of  the  church  the  resonance  of  infinite  music.  He  that  hath  ears 
to  hear,  let  him  hear. 

What  have  we  then  in  this  parable  ?  The  strangest,  sharpest 
contrasts.  But  first  of  all  we  have  God ' s  conception  and  God's  pur- 
pose of  grace  and  love  towards  the  children  of  men.  How  does 
he  put  the  case  ?  He  will  have  a  wedding,  a  feast,  a  great  ban- 
quet :  a  thousand  messengers  going  forth  to  call  those  that  were 
bidden  to  the  wedding.  He  will  have  trumpets  and  cymbals,  and 
dances  and  high  delight.  Such  is  the  conception  of  God  always  : 
he  never  makes  less  than  a  feast,  no  poor  mean  crust  is  it  ever  his 
to  offer.  If  there  be  nothing  else  in  the  wilderness,  he  will  make 
even  that  into  a  feast  of  fat  things,  and  there  shall  be  more  at  the 
end  than  there  was  at  the  beginning  ;  but  in  his  original  purpose, 


GOSPEL   HOSPITALITY.  129 

when  his  heart  speaks  out  of  heaven,  before  the  worlds  are  made, 
he  says,  "  I  will  prepare  for  all  coming  ages  and  coming  men  an 
eternal  wedding  feast,  banners,  trumpetings,  delights,  raptures, 
satisfactions  infinite."  So  he  speaks  in  the  background  of  his  own 
eternity. 

'  When  did  he  ever  do  less  ?  We  can  hardly  turn  over  two  pages 
of  the  inspired  Bible  story  without  finding  offers  of  milk  and  wine 
and  honey  and  banquets  and  great  feasts  and  sacred  pleasures  and 
unutterable  delights.  God's  heart  will  heave  right*  up  through  all 
the  detail  of  our  sin,  torment,  and  pain,  and  will  still  speak  hospi- 
table things  to  the  hungry  life  of  human  creatures.  God  wants  us 
to  eat  and  drink  abundantly,  God  calls  us  to  a  feast — Ho,  every  one 
that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters.  That  is  the  great  cry,  crash- 
ing, breathing,  through  the  ages,  with  infinite  energy  of  love  : 
that  is  God's  meaning  about  us  all,  to  give  us  satisfaction,  to  take 
away  the  pain  of  hunger,  the  fire  of  thirst,  and  all  that  makes  life 
a  burden  and  a  trouble.  Give  him  credit  for  his  purpose.  God 
has  to  be  forced  into  judgment  :  he  comes  of  himself  into  love. 
You  have  to  scourge  him  into  a  judicial  attitude,  mock  him,  taunt 
him,  break  every  law  he  ever  made,  and  spit  in  the  face  of  his 
heavens,  before  he  will  put  out  his  hand  for  the  sword  or  the  rod. 
But  in  himself,  in  all  his  heart,  there  is  the  one  purpose  of  love, 
feasting,  banqueting,  enjoyment,  eternal  nourishment,  and  inward 
and  spiritual  delight  and  growth.  Never  miss  this  thought  from 
your  thinking,  namely,  God's  original  purpose,  God's  desire 
towards  the  children  of  men  is  one  of  mercy,  pity,  love,  care,  sup- 
ply, answering  prayer  before  the  prayer  is  half  spoken,  and  with  a 
grand  Amen  realizing  every  petition  uttered  by  the  suppliant's 
pleading  lips. 

So  we  are  sent  forth  this  day  with  the  call  to  a  great  banquet. 
In  so  far  as  a  man  is  a  true  preacher  of  Christ  he  will  call  his  peo- 
ple away  from  the  land  of  hunger  and  thirst  and  want  into  a  land 
of  plenty  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  and  every  field  a  vineyard 
and  every  rock  a  house  of  security.  Shall  I  fall  short  of  my  mis- 
sion ?  I  pray  God  I  may  answer  its  call,  for  he  who  is  the  King 
bids  me  tell  every  one  who  hears  me  and  to  speak  the  same  mes- 
sage deeply  to  my  own  soul  and  with  infinite  unction  to  all,  that 
God's  purpose  to-day  and  every  day  is  that  we  should  know  no 
more  the  barrenness  of  desolation,  the  pain  of  hunger,  the  depri- 


i3o  MATTHEW  XXII.  1-14. 

vations  of  thirst  and  the  agony  of  weakness,  but  that  we  should  all 
come  unto  his  house  and  have  the  abundance  of  his  grace  and  the 
infinite  satisfaction  of  his  truth. 

My  hospitable  message  is  to  every  one  that  thirsteth,  to  every 
soul  that  feels  pain,  to  every  aching  heart,  to  every  life  that  says, 
"I  have  an  aching  void  which  only  God  can  fill."  The  gospel 
therefore  is  an  answer  to  our  hunger  :  the  gospel  is  not  a  merely 
high  intellectual  delight,  a  system  of  spiritual  metaphysics,  having 
more  or  less  ulterior  moral  aims  and  purposes  :  the  gospel  is  an 
appeal  to  our  sin,  want,  hunger,  pain,  helplessness — therefore  do 
I  always  insist  that  credit  should  be  given  to  the  original  purpose 
and  design  of  the  gospel,  however  much  the  gospel  may  have  failed 
through  false  misrepresentation  or  through  an  unequal  utterance 
of  its  hospitable  purposes  and  welcomes. 

We  have  also  in  this  parable  an  instance  of  human  frivolousness. 
The  guests  who  were  first  invited,  having  heard  the  invitation, 
made  light  of  it  and  went  their  ways,  one  to  his  farm  and  another 
to  his  merchandise.  So  may  great  invitations  become  mere  com- 
monplaces, so  may  the  great  gospel  become  but  as  the  sound  of  a 
noise  in  the  air.  Familiarity  deprives  us  of  much  of  the  sublimity 
of  the  thing  we  look  at.  Could  we  think  ourselves  back,  so  as  to 
feel  in  all  its  reality  and  intensity  the  fact  that  God  was  now  invit- 
ing our  souls  to  a  great  feast,  surely  there  would  be  nothing  light 
or  frivolous  in  our  whole  temper.  But  the  air  is  full  of  these  in- 
vitations, and  therefore  our  familiarity  receives  them  without  any 
sensation  of  surprise,  much  more,  without  any  inspiration  of  grati- 
tude. We  know  the  word  of  the  gospel  so  well  that  in  hearing  it 
we  miss  its  spirit.  Are  we  not  ruined  by  our  very  familiarity  with 
the  letter  ?  I  ask  the  question  with  timidity,  because  of  self-con- 
tempt herein,  knowing  how  easy  it  is  to  speak  syllables  which 
enshrine  the  Deity  without  feeling  their  music  in  the  very  heart. 

Frivolousness  will  ruin  any  life.  No  frivolousness  succeeds 
in  any  great  enterprise.  No  frivolous  man  succeeds  in  busi- 
ness of  a  commercial  kind.  Business  is  not  a  trick  or  an 
amusement,  it  is  hard  work,  hard  study,  daily  consideration,  in- 
cessant planning,  wakefulness  that  ought  never  to  sleep.  If  so  for 
a  corruptible  crown,  what  for  an  incorruptible  ?  The  danger  is 
that  we  make  light  of  the  gospel  because  of  our  disregard  for  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  spoken.     Were  we  anxious  about  the  vital 


HUMAN  FRIVOLITY.  131 

mailer  we  should  not  care  how  it  was  uttered.  All  mere  study  of 
manner,  and  way  of  putting  familiar  truth,  is  an  accommodation 
to  the  frivolity  of  the  age.  When  we  are  told  to  make  our  ser. 
vices  more  interesting,  our  music  more  lively,  our  preaching  more 
animated,  we  are  but  told  to  stoop  to  the  frivolity  of  the  time,  that 
we  may  entrap  a  truant  attention  and  arrest  a  wandering  mind. 
Given,  an  anxious  people,  hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteous- 
ness, knocking  at  the  church  door,  saying,  "  Open  to  me  the  gates 
of  righteousness,  I  will  enter  in  and  be  glad  :  this  is  the  day  the 
Lord  hath  made, ' '  we  need  not  study  any  mechanical  arrange- 
ments, or  urge  ourselves  to  any  unusual  animation  of  manner  : 
the  urgency  of  our  desire,  the  purity  and  nobleness  of  our  sympa- 
thy would  supply  all  the  conditions  required  by  the  God  of  the 
feast,  for  the  pouring  out  of  heaven's  best  wine  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  all  the  fatlings  of  the  heavens  for  the  satisfaction  of  our 
hunger.  God  makes  all  the  universe  contribute  to  the  soul's 
growth.  "  My  oxen  and  my  fatlings  are  killed  and  ready,  there- 
fore come  to  the  marriage. ' '  He  keeps  back  nothing  from  the 
soul,  he  plucks  the  highest  grapes  in  the  vineyards  of  heaven  for 
the  soul,  he  seeks  out  the  goodliest  and  choicest  of  his  possessions 
and  treasures  that  the  soul  may  be  satisfied  :  he  has  kept  back 
nothing  :  last  of  all  he  sent  his  Son,  saying,  "  They  will  reverence 
my  Son."  In  that  fact  see  the  symbol  of  all  that  can  be  crowded 
into  the  suggestion  that  God  withholds  no  good  thing  that  can 
minister  to  the  soul's  development,  and  the  soul's  growth  in  truth 
and  love  and  grace. 

Nor  does  the  human  condition  in  relation  to  the  divine  offer 
conclude  itself  under  the  limitation  of  mere  frivolities.  You  can- 
not slop  at  frivolity.  Light-mindedness  in  this  matter  does  not 
complete  itself.  "  The  remnant  took  his  servants  and  entreated 
them  spitefully  and  slew  them."  This  is  true  frivolity.  Frivolity 
is  followed  by  rebellion,  blasphemy,  high  crime  and  misdemeanour 
before  the  eye  of  heaven.  You  who  laugh  to-day  may  slay  to- 
morrow, we  who  do  make  but  gibes  and  sneers  in  relation  to  the 
gospel  offers  now,  will  by-and-by  sit  with  the  scornful  and  in  delib- 
erate blasphemy  mock  the  King  of  the  feast.  Easy  is  the  descent, 
towards  this  deep  pit  of  rebellion,  hard-heartedness,  and  utter 
defiance  of  divine  goodness.  To  defy  the  good — there  might  be 
some  courage  of  a  wild  kind  in  defying  power,   in  setting  oneself. 


132  MATTHEW  XXII.  1-14. 

in  defiant  attitude  against  thunderbolts,  but  to  defy  goodness,  to 
mock  an  offer  of  hospitality,  to  scorn  the  call  to  a  divine  delight — 
let  a  man  once  become  frivolous  in  that  direction,  and  the  whole 
substance  of  his  character  will  be  depleted  of  everything  that  can 
be  ennobled,  and  it  will  speedily  sink  in  irremediable  viciousness 
and  baseness.  Call  it  not  a  light  thing  to  laugh  at  sacred  words 
and  religious  opportunities  and  engagements  :  it  may  seem  at  the 
time  to  be  of  small  account,  but  it  is  an  indication  of  character,  it 
is  the  beginning  of  a  descent  which  multiplies  its  own  momentum, 
and  he  who  but  laughs  fluently  and  lightly  to-day  at  the  preacher's 
earnestness  may  in  an  immeasurably  short  space  of  time  be 
reckoned  with  the  scorners,  and  be  the  chief  companion  of  fools. 

And  when  the  king  came  in  to  see  the  guests,  he  saw  there  a 
man  which  had  not  on  a  wedding  garment,  and  he  asked  him  how 
this  came  to  be,  and  the  man  was  speechless,  and  the  king  ordered 
him  out  into  punishment.  We  must  not  go  into  the  feast  accord- 
ing to  our  own  way  :  there  is  an  appointed  road  and  an  appointed 
method  and  scheme,  and  we  must  not  attempt  rudeness  as  an 
originality,  we  must  not  offend  the  fitness  0/  things.  We  ourselves 
know  the  meaning  of  this  in  the  lower  ranges  of  architecture, 
painting,  and  music.  A  crooked  pillar  would  instantly  attract 
every  eye  and  awaken  every  attention,  and  might  probably  arouse 
a  suspicion  of  danger  in  many  minds.  Who  could  bear  to  look 
upon  a  crooked  pillar  supporting  a  roof  ?  Who  would  not  run 
away  from  it  ?  A  pillar  has  no  right  to  be  crooked,  so  to  say  :  its 
usefulness  is  in  its  uprightness  ;  in  any  other  form  it  might  suggest 
weakness  and  danger.  So  there  are  eyes  that  are  trained  to  the  in- 
stantaneous criticism  of  colour,  that  would  be  pained  if  they  saw 
aught  of  discord  or  disharmony  in  the  relation  of  hues,  others  could 
look  on  without  surprise  or  trouble  or  conscious  discord.  If  it 
be  so  in  such  little  affairs  as  these,  why  not  in  the  higher  relations 
and  the  broader  kingdoms  ?  When  the  king's  eye  rests  upon  the 
whole  feast,  he  instantly  detects  aught  of  disharmony,  want  of 
obedience  to  the  fitness  of  things  and  the  genius  of  the  place.  The 
Oriental  prince  was  accounted  rich  and  noble  in  proportion  as  he 
piled  up  in  his  wardrobes  it  may  be  thousands  of  robes  for  wedding 
feasts  and  gala  occasions.  It  was  his  business  to  supply  the  guests 
with  garments.  So  with  regard  to  this  great  feast  in  his  kingdom  ; 
he  who  finds  the  feast,  finds  the  robe,  and  if  we  go  in  to  his  ban- 


THE  MANY  AND   THE  FEW.  133 

quet  we  must  go  in  clothed  with  his  garments  ;  there  must  be 
nothing  of  our  own  in  that  gorgeous  and  grand  delight.  Herein 
we  are  all  to  blame  ;  man  must  have  part  of  himself "in  it  :  he  will 
do  something  towards  contributing  to  the  completion  of  God's 
purpose.  Know  ye,  sons  of  men,  that  the  feast  is  ready  and  the 
robe  is  ready,  and  neither  is  yours,  both  are  the  gifts  of  God,  and 
we  are  asked  to  accept  them  now. 

Many  are  called,  but  few  are  chosen.  Many  are  named,  but  few 
are  real.  Of  what  avail,  asks  a  Puritan  writer,  that  you  call  your 
ship  Invincible  if  the  tiniest  gun  that  ever  was  levelled  against  it 
smote  its  sides  and  crumbled  it  into  small  dust  ?  It  is  called  but 
not  chosen,  named  but  not  real,  called  a  guest,  but  not  a  guest  in 
heart.  Your  names  are  nothing,  though  given  by  your  ancestors, 
though  named  at  the  baptismal  font  or  in  the  river  of  baptismal 
water,  though  changed  to  indicate  promotion  and  ascent  in  the 
social  scale.  Of  what  avail  is  it  to  call  a  man  rich  if  he  be  poor 
in  heart — magnificent  in  station  if  he  be  base  in  purpose  and  dis- 
position ?  Do  not  be  frightened  by  this  text  as  if  God  called  a 
thousand  men  to  him,  then  took  out  a  certain  number  of  the 
thousand  and  sent  all  the  rest  away.  This  is  not  the  teaching  of 
the  divine  gospel  :  read  it  thus  : — Many  are  called,  but  few 
choose  ;  many  are  invited,  but  few  come  ;  many  are  named,  but 
few  are  real.  Of  what  account  is  it  to  call  a  base  metal  silver  ? 
Any  acid  dropped  upon  it  will  at  once  reveal  the  baseness  of  the 
compound.  The  face  is  silver,  the  coating  is  real,  but  skin  deep 
lies  the  pewter,  the  mean  lead,  the  comparatively  worthless  iron. 
Many  are  called,  but  few  are  real  ;  many  are  in  the  building,  few 
in  the  church  ;  many  read  the  Book,  few  peruse  the  revelation. 


SELECTED  NOTES. 


Adam  Clarke  says  :  "  Among  the  Mohammedans,  refusal  to  come  to  a 
marriage  feast,  when  invited,  is  considered  a  breach  of  the  law  of  God. 
Any  one  that  shall  be  invited  to  a  dinner,  and  does  not  accept  the  invita- 
tion, disobeys  God  and  his  messenger  :  and  any  one  who  comes  un- 
invited, you  may  say  is  a  thief  and  returns  a  plunderer." 

"  By  the  oxen  understand  the  fathers  of  the  Old  Testament,  by  the 
fatlings  understand  the  fathers  of  the  New  Testament  ;  for  they  did  smite 


1 34  MA  TTHE IV  XXII.  i -i 4. 

■with  the  horn  their  enemies,  and  these  mounted  up  aloft  by  the  wings  of 
heavenly  contemplation." — {Gregory.')  "  Oxen  are  strong,  and  fatlings 
are  sweet  and  pleasant  ;  hereby  are  set  forth  the  oracles  of  God,  which  do 
both  strengthen  and  delight  those  that  feed  upon  them." — {Origen.) 
"  They  that  excuse  themselves  by  the  occupying  of  a  farm  are  the  com- 
mon people  of  the  Jews,  the  other  the  priests  and  ministers  about  the 
temple. ' ' — {Chrysostom.} 


LXXXI. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  do  thou  write  thy  law  upon  our  heart,  and  give  us  a 
disposition  towards  obedience,  so  that  every  word  which  thou  hast  spoken 
may  become  the  rule  of  our  conduct.  To  this  end  do  thou  grant  us, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  and  Priest,  the  continual  ministry  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  to  enlighten  the  mind,  to  sanctify  the  will,  to  subdue  and 
control  the  whole  heart,  so  that  there  may  be  no  disobedience  or  rebellion 
in  us,  but  a  quiet  and  loving  delight  in  thy  sacred  word.  We  thank  thee 
that  thou  hast  addressed  a  speech  to  every  heart  :  thou  has  left  none  out 
of  the  number  to  which  thou  hast  spoken  :  may  each  hear  the  word  thou 
hast  sent  to  it  in  particular,  and  answer  it  with  a  readiness  of  joy  and 
thankfulness — then  shall  our  life  spread  itself  out  in  beauty  before  thee, 
and  shall  receive  the  showers  of  thy  blessing  and  answer  them  with  grow- 
ing fruitfulness. 

Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  hath  revealed  thee  unto  us  :  he  is  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  he  made  atonement  for  our  sins,  and  his  blood  is  the  answer  to 
thy  law.  We  rejoice  in  the  revelation  of  thy  person  which  he  has  made 
unto  us,  now  we  pray  for  the  healthful  influences  of  thy  Spirit,  that 
we  may  read  that  revelation  deeply  and  truly,  and  receive  it  into  our 
hearts  with  all  joyfulness,  and  manifest  it  unto  the  world  according  to 
our  opportunity  and  power.  We  have  come  up  to  thine  house  that  we 
may  make  mention  of  thy  lovingkindness  :  surely  thy  mercies  shall  not 
lie  forgotten  in  unthankfulness — we  will  preserve  the  memory  of  them, 
and  in  the  rehearsal  of  all  thou  hast  done  for  us  in  the  years  that  are  now 
gone,  will  we  find  the  inspiration  and  the  comfort  we  need  for  the  days 
that  are  yet  to  come.  We  live  in  thy  presence,  thy  goodness  towards  us 
is  the  sanctuary  in  which  our  souls  dwell  with  the  quietness  of  infinite 
security.  Thou  didst  deliver  us  from  the  paw  of  the  lion  and  from  the 
paw  of  the  bear  :  thou  didst  enable  us  to  overcome  the  uncircumcised 
Philistine  in  the  valley,  and  on  the  hill  thy  light  has  been  round  about  us 
like  a  promise,  and  in  all  the  winds  that  have  blown  around  our  life,  we 
have  heard  the  sound  of  thine  own  going.  Therefore  do  we  look  onward 
to  the  unknown  time,  with  the  inspiration  of  gratitude,  and  the  confidence 
of  tender  love.  Thou  wilt  not  bring  down  the  grey  hairs  of  thy  servants 
with  sorrow  to  the  grave,  thou  wilt  yet  interpose  in  every  crisis  and  diffi- 
culty, out  of  darkness  thou  wilt  bring  light,  and  thou  wilt  write  songs  for 
the  night  season.  Give  us  confidence  in  these  truths  and  hopes,  yea 
establish  us  and  build  us  upon  them  as  upon  rocks  that  cannot  be  shaken. 


136  MATTHEW  XXII.  15-46. 

May  our  whole  life  rise  upon  thee  like  a  temple  towards  the  Heavens 
complete  and  beautiful  and  resonant  with  thy  praise. 

Thou  hast  been  mindful  of  us  :  we  should  be  witnesses  against  our- 
selves if  we  denied  thy  care  or  questioned  thy  providence.  Every  day 
uttereth  speech  to  us  concerning  thy  love.  Wherein  we  have  done  wrong 
thou  wilt  come  to  us  with  infinite  forgiveness.  Where  sin  abounds  grace 
shall,  through  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,  much  more  abound,  so  that  the  little- 
ness of  the  one  shall  not  be  thought  of  because  of  the  greatness  of  the 
other.  By  grace  are  we  saved,  by  blood  are  we  cleansed,  by  the  precious 
blood  of  Christ  are  we  redeemed.  We  know  our  ransom  price,  and  we 
know  thou  hast  not  paid  it  in  vain — thou  wilt  surely  redeem  us  utterly, 
and  bring  us  with  completeness  out  of  the  snare  of  him  who  would 
entangle  us,  and  out  of  the  wilderness  of  despair  and  loneliness.  Our 
hope  is  in  Christ,  our  confidence  is  in  God,  our  inspiration  is  from  the 
Holy  Ghost 

Thou  knowest  our  life  in  its  entireness  :  how  few  its  days,  how  small 
its  strength,  how  easily  blown  out  its  best  hopes,  and  how  soon  blighted 
its  noblest  ambitions.  Thou  hast  dug  a  grave  in  the  garden,  thou  hast 
hidden  a  pit  under  the  hearthstone,  there  is  poison  in  the  cup  out  of  which 
we  drink  our  life,  and  our  whole  course  lies  through  thorns  and  thickets 
and  most  difficult  places.  Yet  surely  our  extremity  will  be  the  opportu- 
nity of  God,  and  because  of  the  supreme  difficulty  of  the  road  shall  be  the 
fulness  and  the  tenderness  of  the  ministry  which  waits  upon  us. 

We  now  lovingly  put  ourselves  into  thine  hands,  to  be  conducted  as 
thou  wilt  through  all  difficulties  and  snares.  Disappoint  us  if  it  be  for  our 
souls'  health  that  we  should  be  stung  and  wounded  and  have  sudden  night 
descending  upon  our  brightest  days.  Do  thou  hunger  us  and  impoverish 
us  and  give  us  pain  continually  if  it  can  be  only  through  this  process  that 
we  may  be  saved.  Not  our  will  but  thine  be  done,  only  take  not  thy 
Holy  Spirit  from  us. 

Regard  us  in  our  special  relationships,  and  according  to  our  necessity 
let  the  blessing  of  the  Most  High  God  come  to  us  this  day.  Preserve  the 
little  one  that  he  may  become  a  strong  man,  speak  to  the  aged  that  he 
may  renew  his  youth  in  the  immortal  hope  of  fellowship  with  the  angels 
and  with  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect.  Address  the  busy  man  who 
is  seeking  his  fortune  in  the  dust,  and  excite  in  his  soul  a  hunger  which 
the  bread  of  life  alone  can  satisfy.  Tell  the  afflicted  that  the  time  of 
weakness  is  but  for  a  moment,  and  the  time  of  immortal  health  is  as  the 
duration  of  God.  Regard  all  who  rule  over  us  in  the  kingdom,  preserve 
the  wise  and  the  strong  for  many  years,  that  they  may  surpass  themselves 
in  the  nobleness  of  their  patriotism  and  their  trust  in  the  God  of  nations. 

Be  with  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray  and  for  whom  it  is  our  loving 
delight  to  intercede.  For  the  absent,  for  the  travelling,  for  those  who  are 
in  danger,  in  weakness,  in  peculiar  sorrow,  in  sharp  agony.  Be  with 
those  who  are  going  through  their  highest  joys,  and  with  those  who  are 
far  out  in  the  deep  waters  of  peculiar  trouble.     Sanctify  all  varieties  of 


THE   TEXT.  137 

discipline  and  training  through  which  we  pass,  and  at  last,  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  sanctified  and  inspired  by  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  may  we  take  our  place  in  the  city  whose  hills  are  light, 
whose  walls  are  jasper,  whose  streets  are  gold.     Amen. 


Matthew  xxii.  15-46. 

15.  Then  went  the  Pharisees,  and  took  counsel  how  they  might 
entangle  (ensnare)  him  in  his  talk. 

16.  And  they  sent  out  unto  him  their  disciples  with  the  Herodians 
(advocates  of  national  submission  to  the  emperor),  saying,  Master,  we 
know  that  thou  art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  neither 
carest  thou  for  any  man  :  for  thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men. 

17.  Tell  us  therefore,  What  thinkest  thou  ?  Is  it  lawful  to  give  tribute 
unto  Caesar,  or  not? 

18.  But  Jesus  perceived  their  wickedness,  and  said,  Why  tempt  ye  me, 
ye  hypocrites? 

ig.  Shew  me  the  tribute  money  (the  denarius,  which  was  in  common 
circulation).     And  they  brought  unto  him  a  penny. 

20.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Whose  is  this  image  and  superscription  ? 

21.  They  say  unto  him,  Caesar's.  Then  saith  he  unto  them,  Render 
therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Caesar's  ;  and  unto  God  the 
things  that  are  God's. 

22.  When  they  had  heard  these  words,  they  marvelled,  and  left  him, 
and  went  their  way. 

23.  The  same  day  came  to  him  the  Sadducees  (largely  the  upper  classes 
of  the  priesthood),  which  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  and  asked  him, 

24.  Saying,  Master,  Moses  said,  If  a  man  die,  having  no  children,  his 
brother  shall  marry  his  wife,  and  raise  up  seed  unto  his  brother. 

25.  Now  there  were  with  us  seven  brethren  :  and  the  first,  when  he 
had  married  a  wife,  deceased,  and  having  no  issue,  left  his  wife  unto  his 
brother : 

26.  Likewise  the  second  also,  and  the  third,  unto  the  seventh. 

27.  And  last  of  all  the  woman  died  also. 

28.  Therefore  in  the  resurrection  whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  the  seven  ? 
for  all  had  her, 

29.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Ye  do  err  (a  less  stern  tone 
than  that  in  which  the  Pharisees  were  accosted),  not  knowing  the  script- 
ures, nor  the  power  of  God. 

30.  For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  mar- 
riage, but  are  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven. 

31.  But  as  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read 
that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God,  saying, 

32.  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of 
Jacob  ?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living. 


138  MATTHEW  XXII.  15-46. 

33.  And  when  the  multitude  heard  this,  they  were  astonished  at  his 
doctrine  (teaching). 

34.  But  when  the  Pharisees  had  heard  that  he  had  put  the  Sadducees  to 
silence,  they  were  gathered  together. 

35.  Then  one  of  them,  which  was  a  lawyer,  asked  him  a  question, 
tempting  him,  and  saying, 

36.  Master,  which  (what  kind)  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law? 
(The  meaning  of  this  question  was,  whether  anything  were  more  perfect 
than  the  law,  because  he  taught  a  new  kind  of  doctrine,  whereby  the  ex- 
pounders of  the  law  held  themselves  to  be  disgraced). 

37.  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind. 

38.  This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment. 

39.  And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as 
thyself. 

40.  On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets. 

41.  While  the  Pharisees  were  gathered  together,  Jesus  asked  them, 

42.  Saying,  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  whose  son  is  he  ?  They  say  unto 
him,  The  son  of  David. 

43.  He  saith  unto  them,  How  then  doth  David  in  spirit  call  him  Lord, 
saying, 

44.  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand,  till  I 
make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool  ? 

45.  If  David  then  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he  his  son  ? 

46.  And  no  man  was  able  to  answer  him  a  word,  neither  durst  any  man 
from  that  day  forth  ask  him  any  more  questions. 

TEMPTING  QUESTIONS  AND  DIVINE 
ANSWERS. 

YOU  will  notice  that  the  attacks  which  were  made  upon  the 
Saviour  were  prepared.  There  is  evidence  everywhere  of 
premeditation,  arrangement,  concert,  so  that  there  might  be  no 
weakness  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  about  to  approach  the 
great  and  marvellous  Teacher.  No  notice  was  sent  of  the  ques- 
tions :  the  preparation  was  complete  on  the  side  of  the  interroga- 
tors without  Jesus  Christ  having  any  intimation  that  an  attack  was 
about  to  be  made  upon  him.  So  far  the  advantage  was  upon  the 
side  of  the  questioners.  They  talked  the  whole  matter  over,  they 
proposed  and  re-arranged  and  amended,  and  then  settled  the 
terms  :  having  done  so,  they  went  with  unanimous  purpose  to 
ensnare  the  Speaker. 

Not  only  so,  the  questions  were  subtly  adapted  to  the  then  state 


PREPARED  ATTACKS.  139 

of  the  Speaker's  mind.  We  have  just  seen  that  he  was  uttering 
parables  of  judgment  in  place  of  parables  of  illustration.  His  para- 
bolical tone  had  changed  completely.  In  the  thirteenth  chapter 
of  this  gospel,  he  spoke,  as  we  have  repeatedly  said,  a  whole  pict- 
ure gallery  of  beauties  into  existence.  Since  the  time  of  his  revela- 
tion of  his  personality  to  his  disciples,  he  has  been  speaking  para- 
bles of  fire,  judgment,  anathema,  fraught  with  most  searching  and 
terrible  penal  criticism.  The  people  round  about  him,  therefore, 
had  supposed  that  he  was  excited,  and  knowing  what  they  them- 
selves were  when  under  excitement,  they  supposed  they  would  catch 
this  marvellous  Speaker  at  a  great  disadvantage  ;  he  had  lost  his 
balance,  he  was  off  his  guard,  he  was  goaded  into  an  unusual 
strain  of  adjuration,  and  now  in  this  changed  temper  of  his  mind, 
they  would  very  likely  be  able  to  ensnare  him  in  his  speech,  and 
so  to  accomplish  their  own  malign  purpose. 

Still  further,  the  attacks  were  not  inspired  by  love  of  truth  or  by 
anxiety  to  know  God's  mind  upon  this  or  that  subject,  but  by 
hatred  of  the  Man.  Hence  we  have  the  most  unusual  combina- 
tions of  parties,  hence  we  have  the  horse  and  the  ass  yoked  together 
in  one  team,  hence  we  have  colours  that  ought  never  to  have  been 
brought  into  juxtaposition,  stitched  together,  hence  we  have  con- 
trasts which  under  other  circumstances  would  be  accounted  anom- 
alies and  would  evoke  destructive  criticism, — but  any  union  will 
do  where  such  a  Man's  life  is  to  be  taken  ! 

In  the  gospel  by  Luke,  we  read  that  these  persons  approached 
Christ  feigning  themselves  to  be  just  men,  painting  their  faces  with 
the  colours  of  justness,  borrowing  clothes  of  righteousness  and 
respectability,  assuming  with  fatal  skill  the  very  tone  of  earnest- 
ness. Yet  under  all  this  feigning  and  similitude  and  hypocrisy, 
their  aim  was  not  to  inquire  about  truth,  its  foundations  and  re- 
sponsibilities and  issues,  but  to  strike  with  a  dart  the  life  of  an  ex- 
cited Man. 

This  point  is  the  one  which  brings  its  severe  lesson  to  us.  Here- 
in we  find  the  reality  of  the  inspiration  of  the  attacks  which  are 
made  upon  Christianity  to-day.  When  men  go  forward  to  assail 
the  Book,  why  do  they  exhibit  so  much  anxiety  to  dispute  its  claim 
and  invalidate  its  integrity  and  enfeeble  its  hold  upon  the  attention 
of  mankind  ?  Judging  by  history,  it  is  no  whit  uncharitable  to 
suggest  that  they  are  not  so  anxious  about  its  literary  discrepancies 


1 40  MA  TTHE  W  XXII.  1 5-46. 

and  incoherencies  and  difficulties,  as  that  they  hate  its  moralities. 
It  would  be  worth  the  while  of  any  number  of  men  to  pay  ten 
thousand  pounds  down  to-day  on  any  counter,  if  they  could  buy 
themselves  off  from  the  moral  discipline  of  the  Scriptures.  Such  an 
investment  would  be  the  beginning  of  their  fortune  from  a  merely 
secular  point  of  view.  The  rope  would  be  broken,  the  tether 
would  be  snapped,  the  chain  that  binds  them  would  give  way  at 
its  strongest  link,  and  men  would  be  free  to  do  what  they  pleased. 
What  wonder  then  if  oftentimes  they  should  shape  themselves  into 
little  deputations  and  go  in  twos  and  threes  for  the  purpose  of  ask- 
ing questions  about  the  literary  part  of  the  Bible,  when  the  real 
heart  and  core  of  their  purpose  is  to  rid  themselves  of  its  moral 
rule  P 

How  can  I  be  charged  with  uncharitableness  in  making  such  a 
suggestion,  when  I  have  before  me  Pharisees  and  Herodians  feign- 
ing themselves  to  be  just  persons,  who  go  to  ask  a  question  about 
the  tribute  money,  not  that  they  care  either  for  the  Caesar  or  the 
Jew  in  this  or  that  particular,  but  that  they  want  to  ensnare  an  ex- 
cited Man  in  his  fluent  and  vehement  eloquence  ?  Let  every  man 
search  himself  in  this  matter.  What  if  we  go  to  the  Bible  for  the 
purpose  of  propounding  difficulties  and  asking  religious  questions, 
and  take  upon  us  the  air  of  injured  critics  and  anxious  pilgrims, 
having  but  one  supreme  purpose,  and  that  to  find  out  the  literal 
word  and  meaning  of  God,  and  in  reality  we  want  to  rid  ourselves 
of  the  humiliations  of  the  Book  ?  The, Book  takes  no  note  of  king 
or  peasant,  gentle  or  simple,  rich  or  poor,  but  judges  every  man 
on  the  broad  basis  of  manhood  and  sinfulness  and  dishonoured 
obligation,  and  commands  every  man  to  his  knees,  to  put  his 
mouth  in  the  dust  and  to  say,  ' '  Unclean,  unclean. ' '  What  if  we 
want  to  escape  its  humiliations,  under  the  mean  pretence  of  want- 
ing to  rearrange  its  translation,  and  revise  its  literature,  and  throw 
into  new  arrangements  that  which  is  historical,  chronological,  and 
of  antiquarian  interest  ?  Search  your  heart  in  this  matter,  say  why 
you  do  go  to  the  Book  or  to  Christ.  Do  you  feign  to  be  just  men 
when  in  reality  you  want  to  put  your  knife  through  the  Bible's 
morality  and  to  rid  yourselves  of  the  daily  discipline  of  its  abase- 
ments and  humiliations  ?  Be  severe  with  yourself  on  this  matter  ; 
do  not  play  the  fool  to  yourself,  and  never  lose  the  dignity  and  the 
restfulness  of  your  self-respect. 


THE  ANSWERS   OF  CHRIST.  141 

So  much  for  the  attacks  which  were  made  upon  Jesus  Christ. 
Now  let  us  turn  and  look  at  the  answers  which  he  made  to  the 
onslaughts.  Note  in  the  first  place  that  Jesus  Christ's  answers 
were  extemporaneous,  and  herein  they  stand  in  contrast  to  the  first 
point  made,  that  the  attacks  of  the  enemy  were  premeditated  and 
arranged.  Speaking  from  a  purely  human  point  of  view,  the  as- 
sailants knew  by  heart  every  word  they  were  going  to  say,  but 
Jesus  Christ  had  no  knowledge  or  intimation  of  the  questions  that 
were  about  to  be  put  to  him.  His  answers  therefore  were  not  pre- 
pared, studied,  arranged,  and  calculated  as  to  the  force  and  value 
of  words.  Herein  an  argument  begins.  It  surely  cannot  be  an 
easy  thing  to  answer  the  supreme  intellects  of  the  age,  instantane- 
ously, when  they  put  knotty  questions,  yet  this  is  the  very  thing 
Jesus  Christ  does.  He  never  says,  "  The  question  is  a  novel  one, 
I  must  consider  it."  We  have  seen  old  judges  upon  the  English 
bench  posed  by  novel  suggestions  or  constructions  of  the  law,  and 
the  hoary  and  learned  men  have  had  to  ask  to  be  permitted  to 
consult  some  brother  judge  because  of  the  novelty  of  the  situation. 
This  is  wise  on  the  part  of  all  merely  human  critics,  because  no 
man  is  all  men,  and  no  man  knows  or  can  know  so  much  as  all 
men  know.  Consultation,  therefore,  and  comparison  of  men's 
thoughts  is  not  only  desirable  but  just  and  right  in  all  merely 
human  consultations  and  inquiries.  But  here  is  a  man  who  con- 
sults nobody,  who  asks  for  no  time  to  think,  who  answers  with  the 
suddenness  and  the  brilliance  of  lightning.  Touch  him,  and  you 
are  healed,  if  the  touch  be  that  of  faith.  Speak  to  him,  and  you 
evoke  a  revelation  ;  pray  to  him,  and  the  whole  firmament  widens 
into  a  great  answer  to  your  request,  wherein  it  is  just  and  proper. 
But  never  was  he  to  be  allowed  to  consult  the  authorities  or  to 
take  into  his  confidence  the  learned  men  of  his  day.  He  drew  from 
the  quiver  of  his  own  heart  every  arrow  that  he  required.  From 
the  fulness  of  his  grace  he  drew  every  gospel  adapted  to  his  age, — 
from  the  infiniteness  of  his  own  sufficiency  he  satisfied  the  hunger 
of  the  world. 

But  an  answer  may  be  extemporaneous  and  nothing  more.  It 
may  be  as  instant  as  lightning,  and  yet  there  may  be  nothing  in  it 
but  words.  But  in  this  case  we  have  the  answers  before  us,  and 
with  those  answers  open  to  our  criticism  we  may  surely  pronounce 


I42  MATTHEW  XXII.  15-46. 

them  to  be  intellectually  acute.  Sit  down  in  your  quietest  leisure, 
when  your  head  is  coolest  and  your  mind  is  steadiest,  and  try  to 
amend  any  answer  that  is  here  given.  Take  paper  and  pen  and 
ink,  and  in  the  mood  of  mind  at  which  you  are  at  your  very  best, 
write  out  a  thousand  possible  answers  to  the  attacks  of  the  Phari- 
sees and  Herodians,  the  Sadducees  and  the  Lawyers.  Rearrange 
your  replies,  pick  out  the  choicest  English  in  which  to  express 
them,  and  when  you  have  done,  you  will  find  that  you  cannot 
amend  in  one  line  or  tone  or  hue  the  answers  which  are  here 
given,  perfect  in  wit,  covering  the  whole  case,  silencing  with  gags 
— for  that  is  the  true  rendering  of  the  speechlessness  of  the  assail- 
ants— those  who  made  the  attack.  He  put  gags  in  their  mouths, 
and  forced  them  into  silence.  The  dumbness  was  reluctant,  but 
it  was  not  to  be  broken  through. 

Sometimes  we  think  only  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  good  man,  kind- 
hearted,  full  of  love,  always  trying  to  make  the  world  better,  yea- 
even  to  save  the  world.  All  that  is  right,  but  we  ought  sometimes 
to  consider  the  simple  intellectual  force  and  majesty  of  this  unique 
mind.  Christ  had  a  great  heart — true — but  do  not  therefore  dis- 
parage his  mind.  It  suits  the  purpose  of  some  persons  to  regard 
Jesus  Christ  as  morally  noble,  but  intellectually  feeble.  Wherein 
is  the  intellectual  feebleness  shown  ?  Certainly  not  in  this 
instance.  The  answer  about  the  tribute  money  was  an  answer 
surprising  and  conclusive  as  a  revelation  from  heaven.  There  was 
nothing  else  to  be  said  ;  no  man  could  add  a  word  to  it  without 
spoiling  its  infinite  simplicity,  no  mind  can  suggest  a  new  turn  to 
the  phrase  without  trying  to  bend  the  sky  into  a  completer  circle. 

Not  only  so— for  in  that  he  might  simply  have  been  the  greater 
wit  of  the  two — his  answers  were  profoundly  Scriptural.  Take  the 
instance  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  What  was  his  reply  ? 
Was  there  any  shuffling  here,  or  any  disposition  to  evade  the 
difficulty  ?  He  said,  in  effect,  "  Sadducees,  you  are  perfectly 
right  from  your  point  of  view.  The  anecdote  is  exactly  as  you 
have  related  it  ;  I  myself  knew  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case — 
a  very  surprising  instance  indeed,  rarely  to  be  met  with,  and  from 
your  point  of  view  it  must  really  shape  itself  into  something  like  a 
fatal  argument.  But,  gentlemen,  where  you  get  wrong  is  in  your 
foundation.  You  have  nothing  to  stand  upon  but  a  handful  of 
sand  :  I  take  it  away  and  down  you  drop — the  whole  fabric,  anec- 


OLD    TRUTHS  IN  A   NEW  LIGHT.  143 

dote,  historians,  and  critics,  and  all.  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the 
Scriptures  and  the  power  of  God.  You  omit  from  your  calcula- 
tion the  two  great  factors,  you  are  perplexed  by  details,  you  rest 
upon  no  infinite  rock."  And  they  all  were  gagged.  When  the 
multitude  heard  this,  they  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine,  or 
astonished  at  his  teaching.  Not  so  much  at  the  substance  as  in 
the  new  way  in  which  he  put  old  truths  and  avowed  revelations, 
and  under  his  setting  these  old  things  shone  with  a  new  light. 
Herein  is  the  greatness  of  all  true  teaching — not  to  be  inventing 
new  theories  and  hypotheses,  but  so  to  set  the  old  truth  as  to  give 
it  modern  force,  so  to  interpret  the  eternal  as  to  make  it  a  gospel 
to  the  dying  tirme. 

Poor  Sadducees  !  I  pity  the  Pharisees  about  their  penny,  and 
the  Sadducees  about  their  one  little  anecdote.  Both  parties  seem 
to  have  been  deprived  of  their  one  ewe  lamb.  It  is  sad  to  see  how 
these  little  critics  who  suppose  they  had  a  case  against  Christ,  have 
the  case  taken  right  out  of  their  hands  and  turned  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  other  side.  I  never  knew  a  critic  go  away  from  Christ 
otherwise  than  with  a  slouching  gait  and  with  a  kind  of  unconfess- 
ed  wish  that  he  had  never  made  such  a  fool  of  himself  as  to  go 
and  touch  that  burning  mountain. 

Do  not  let  us  be  misled  by  little  cases  that  occur,  by  parochial 
anecdotes  and  by  local  circumstances  that  appear  to  contravene  the 
infinite  revelation  of  God.  Let  your  circumstances  go  down  and 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  eternal.  Woe  to  the  peace  of  any 
man  who  lives  in  mere  details. 

How  did  Jesus  know  all  these  Scriptures  ?  He  himself  wrote 
them.  The  Scriptures  were  quoted  from  him,  he  did  not  quote 
from  the  Scriptures.  He  only  quotes  himself,  and  quotes  himself 
with  the  emphasis  which  the  writer  of  any  deep  literature  alone  can 
give  to  his  own  words. 

I  must  add  that  the  answers  were  complete.  From  our  point  of 
view  we  cannot  suggest  a  solitary  deficiency  in  the  replies.  He 
does  not  evade  the  question,  but  addresses  himself  honestly, 
morally,  to  the  difficulty  that  was  put  before  him.  A  lawyer 
thought  he  could  put  a  case  that  might  puzzle  this  singular 
Teacher.  "Which  is  the  great  commandment  of  the  law?" 
Jesus  answered,  "  Thou  shalt  love."     That  must  have  been  a  sur- 


144  MATTHEW  XX I L  15-46. 

prise  to  any  man  who  was  nothing  but  a  lawyer — thou  shalt  love. 
It  does  not  read  like  a  legal  phrase — thou  shalt  love.  And  yet  Jesus 
says,  "  I  did  not  invent  that  expression  :  you  will  find  it  in  the 
law" — and  he  goes  to  the  very  chapter  with  which  he  himself 
seems  to  have  been  peculiarly  familiar,  for  in  the  Temptation  in 
the  wilderness,  two  of  his  quotations  were  out  of  that  very  self- 
same chapter.  And  now  when  the  lawyer  comes  to  him,  prob- 
ably an  emissary  of  an  old  tempter,  he  answers  him  out  of  the  same 
chapter.  Wonderful  things  you  will  find  in  any  chapter  of  the 
Bible  if  you  dig  for  them  as  for  hidden  treasure,  and  search  it  as 
for  surprises  of  incalculable  value.  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell 
in  you  richly.  What  can  be  a  completer  answer  to  the  inquiry  of 
the  lawyer  than  ' '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart"  ?  and  to  accommodate  himself  still  further  to  the  lawyer's 
possible  condition,  he  says,  "  There  is  another  commandment 
very  nearly  as  great,"  and  looking  at  him  like  a  judgment,  search- 
ing him  through  and  through  like  a  fire,  he  said,  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."  If  a  lawyer  can  do  that,  I  know 
not  what  he  cannot  do. 

We  too  send  deputations  to  Christ,  send  our  Criticism  to  him, 
and  we  say  in  effect,  ' '  Jesus,  son  of  David,  behold  the  docu- 
ment :  we  find  that  the  date  in  this  place  does  not  accord  with  the 
date  in  that  place  ;  we  find  that  one  Evangelist  relates  a  circum- 
stance in  one  way,  and  another  evangelist  relates  the  same  circum- 
stance in  another  way.  Now  what  are  we  to  do  ?"  And  instantly 
he  says,  "  You  are  not  saved  by  the  literary  coherencies  of  the 
Book,  but  by  its  moral  consistency.  Look  for  its  consistency  in  its 
consistent  demands  for  righteousness  and  truth  and  purity  and 
honour."  Then  our  Criticism  coming  away  from  him,  we  send 
up  our  Curiosity,  and  curiosity,  feigning  itself  to  be  very  reverent 
and  profoundly  inquisitive  in  a  right  spirit,  says,  "  Jesus,  why  not 
tell  us  more  about  heaven  and  hell,  about  the  invisible  world 
generally?"  and  instantly  he  answers,  "I  have  told  you  enough 
for  life,  conduct,  discipline,  sanctification  :  use  what  you  do 
know,  and  he  that  is  faithful  in  little,  shall  afterwards 'be  appointed 
ruler  over  many  cities."  Then  we  send  up  to  him  our  Vulgarity, 
and  the  vulgarity  says  to  him  broadly,  "  Why  is  there  so  much 
mystery  about  this  Book,  why  not  make  things  much  plainer  / " 


"  WHAT  THINK   YE   OF  THE   CHRIST?"  145 

and  he  answers,  "  The  mystery  is  in  yourself  :  there  is  no  mystery 
in  the  Book  that  has  not  its  counterpart  in  the  mystery  of  your 
own  psychology  :  you  are  the  mystery,  and  until  you  recognise 
that  fact,  you  will  never  rise  to  the  occasion  demanded  of  you  as 
true  students  of  the  Book,  which  is  not  an  invention  apart  from 
mankind,  but  a  revelation  to  human  nature  as  it  is  now  consti- 
tuted." 

The  questions  are  over,  the  assailants  are  quiet.  "  Now,"  says 
Jesus,  "  if  you  do  want  to  ask  a  question  that  is  a  real  difficulty 
from  your  point  of  view,  I  will  put  it  into  your  possession  :  you 
shall  have  a  really  hard  and  deep  question.  Now,  what  think  ye 
of  the  Christ?"  Not — "What  think  ye  of  me  as  the  Christ?" 
but — "  What  think  ye  of  the  Christ  that  is  promised  in  your 
books?  Whose  son  is  he?"  And  they  instantly  answer  like  a 
number  of  children  who  had  learned  the  Catechism,  "  The  son  of 
David."  "  Now  how  then  doth  David  in  spirit  call  him  Lord? 
If  David  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he  his  son  ?"  A  difficulty  indeed 
to  the  literal  intellect,  a  difficulty  to  those  who  live  in  pen  and  ink, 
a  difficulty  to  those  who  suppose  there  is  no  multiplication  beyond 
what  is  literally  given  in  the  multiplication  table,  — yet  no  diffi- 
culty at  all  to  the  reverent  imagination,  that  higher  and  sublimer 
life  that  embraces  the  whole  revelation  of  God  in  its  noblest  sug- 
gestiveness.  If  the  Christ  were  only  the  son  of  David,  he  could 
never  be  David's  Lord  :  the  fact  that  David  sets  lordship  above 
sonship  suggests  that  this  Man  is  Wonderful,  Emmanuel,  God 
with  us,  a  ladder  with  the  foot  on  the  earth,  with  the  head  bathed 
in  the  glad  heavens.  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness,  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh.  "  Pharisees,  Herodians,  Sadducees,  Law- 
yers," said  he,  "  do  not  trouble  yourselves  about  the  tribute 
money,  and  questions  of  succession  in  family  relationships  :  do 
not  trouble  yourselves  with  the  merely  numerical  relationships  of 
the  points  of  the  law,  but  do  ask  deep  questions,  grand  questions, 
massive,  noble  questions,  get  up  into  the  higher  region  of  think- 
ing, and  there  learn  how  possible  it  is  for  reason  to  blossom  into 
faith,  and  for  the  hard,  literal  intellect  to  bow  down  in  tender 
homage  before  the  infinite  God." 

Such  are  the  infinite  retorts  of  Christ.  Be  sure,  when  you  go  to 
him  with  a  question,  that  it  is  neither  little  nor  irreverent 


146  MATTHEW  XXII.  15-46. 


SELECTED  NOTES. 

Verse    21. — "And  he  said  unto  them,  Render   therefore  unto    Ccesar  the 
things  which  be  Ccesar  s,  and  unto  God  the  things  which  be  Gods. ' ' 

Render. — A  clear  acknowledgment  of  the  divine  authority  of  human 
government. 

1.  Though  they  went  to  pay   Ccesar's  tribute,  they  were  not  to  adopt 
Caesar's  religion. 

The  paying  earthly  tribute  does  not  defraud  the  Lord's  service. 

"  Fear  God,  honour  the  king1!"     1  Peter  ii.  17. 

"  Curse  not  the  king,  no  not  in  thy  thought."     Eccles.  x.  20. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  speak  evil  of  the  ruler  of  thy  people."     Acts  xxiii.  5. 

"  The  wicked  axe  not  afraid  to  speak  evil  of  dignities."     2  Peter  ii.  10. 

2.  Obedience  to  the  laws.     "  Let  every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher 
powers."     Rom.  xiii.  1. 

"  Use  not  your  liberty  for  a  cloak  of  maliciousness."     1  Peter  ii.  16. 

"  License  they  mean,  when  liberty  they  cry."     Milton. 

There  are  times  when  resistance  becomes  a  virtue.     Psalm  cxlix.  8,  9. 


LXXXIL 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  givest  the  Holy  Spirit  unto  men,  that  they  may 
be  enlightened  and  sanctified  and  made  like  thyself.  If  men  being  evil 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  their  children,  how  much  more  will  our 
Father  which  is  in  Heaven  give  the  Holy  Spirit  unto  them  that  ask  him. 
We  come  to  ask  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  Church  of 
the  redeemed,  bought  not  with  corruptible  things  as  silver  and  gold,  but 
with  the  precious  blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  He  promised  us  another 
Paraclete,  that  should  abide  with  the  Church  forever,  even  the  Holy 
Spirit  that  should  lead  men  into  all  truth,  making  them  quiet  with  divine 
peace,  beautiful  with  divine  holiness,  inspiring  them  every  day  with  the 
love  of  truth  and  with  the  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  highest  service  of 
mankind.  We  now  look  for  the  pentecost,  we  are  gathered  together  with 
one  accord  in  one  place  ;  withhold  not  thou  the  gift  for  which  we  have 
come,  but  multiply  it  unto  every  one  of  us— the  great  gift  of  thy  love. 
Holy  Spirit,  baptize  us  as  with  fire,  Spirit  of  the  living  God,  descend  upon 
us,  consuming  all  evil,  encouraging  all  goodness,  strengthening  within  us 
every  vow  that  is  made  with  an  honest  purpose  and  with  a  good  hope, 
and  granting  unto  us  such  communications  of  divine  grace  as  shall  give 
us  nourishment  and  comfort  in  the  day  of  trial  and  distress. 

Withhold  not  thy  Spirit  from  us,  grant  him  unto  us  in  such  measure  as 
we  are  able  to  receive  the  gift,  and  may  we  prove  that  the  Spirit  has  been 
given  unto  us  by  the  newness  of  our  speech,  by  the  nobleness  of  our  be- 
haviour, and  by  such  manifestations  as  shall  put  to  silence  the  gainsaying 
of  foolish  men.  Thou  dost  not  keep  back  from  those  who  seek  it,  this 
great  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit :  we  pray  for  it  with  one  consent,  and  look 
for  it  with  one  eager  expectation.  Give  this  unto  us,  and  behold  we  shall 
be  made  anew,  we  shall  be  born  again,  we  shall  enter  into  thy  service  with 
a  new  consecration,  our  life  shall  be  made  glad  by  a  new  hope,  and  all 
the  outgoing  of  life  shall  be  in  the  direction  of  Christ's  own  beneficence. 

We  bless  thee  for  the  Saviour  who  promised  this  Holy  Spirit  :  he  is 
our  one  Priest  and  Lord  and  King,  the  only  wise  God,  who  only  hath 
immortality.  Potentate  over  all,  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world  the  Saviour  of  all  men.  May  we  read  his  character  more 
clearly,  apprehend  his  purpose  more  completely,  and  live  in  his  spirit 
with  more  entireness  of  sympathy.  We  would  grow  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  we  would  be  no  more  children, 


148  MATTHEW  XXIII. 


tossed  to  and  fro  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  but  men,  strong,  simple, 
true  in  heart,  honest  in  purpose,  ever  striving  with  all  the  devotion  of 
love,  to  become  the  sons  of  God  in  very  deed,  that  by  the  manifestation 
of  good  purpose  and  good  work,  we  may  help  to  overthrow  him  who  is 
the  evil  one.  Hear  us  in  these  desires,  and  cause  thine  answers  to  be 
multiplied  unto  us  that  we  may  rejoice  in  the  Lord  and  have  renewal  of 
every  sacred  hope. 

We  bless  thee  for  all  thy  patience,  tenderness,  and  continual  goodness 
of  intention  towards  us.  The  goodness  of  God  should  lead  us  to  repen- 
tance, yet  do  we  take  thy  gifts  and  set  our  feet  upon  them,  nor  do  we 
understand  their  value — yea,  we  have  trampled  under  foot  the  blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant.  God  be  merciful  unto  us  sinners,  and  give  us 
to  feel  that  all  the  dispensations  of  providence  are  meant  to  lead  us  up  to 
the  completer  dispensation  of  grace.  In  thy  goodness  may  we  see  thy 
mercy,  in  thy  mercy  may  we  behold  thy  love  of  thine  own  image  in  every 
human  creature  ;  thus  may  we  be  led  to  the  cross,  which  gathers  up  in 
one  ineffable  expression  of  tenderness  the  infinite  love  of  thine  heart. 

Thou  hast  led  us  by  ways  that  we  knew  not,  but  all  thy  leading  has 
been  good.  When  thou  hast  made  us  poor  we  have  been  rich,  when  the 
darkness  has  been  of  thy  sending,  it  has  been  full  of  stars,  when  thou 
hast  brought  us  low  thou  hast  spoken  unto  us  the  gospel  of  future  exalta- 
tion. Wherein  we  have  brought  all  mischief  and  distress  upon  ourselves, 
we  would  mourn  the  sin  which  caused  the  grief,  and  seek  in  one  unani- 
mous prayer  the  forgiveness  which  it  is  thine  alone  to  exercise.  Thou 
knowest  each  life,  its  pain,  its  want,  its  heavy  load,  the  aching  of  every 
heart,  the  tears  that  blind  our  eyes,  the  sudden  darkness  that  falls  upon 
our  way — regard  us  in  thy  tender  pity,  let  the  messages  of  thy  truth  to  us 
be  according  to  the  strain  that  is  put  upon  us.  Regard  with  Fatherly 
tenderness  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray — the  sick,  the  dying,  the 
hearts  that  are  ill  at  ease — those  who  are  travelling  for  the  good  of  their 
health  or  for  the  extension  of  honourable  commerce  ;  the  young  who  are 
full  of  blessedness  and  new  hope  and  a  song  of  gladness  they  never  sung 
before  ;  the  prodigal,  the  wanderer  far  beyond  any  prayer  of  ours,  lying 
as  it  were  barely  within  the  sweep  of  thine  own  infinite  love,  bring  home 
and  restore  to  sonship. 

The  Lord  hear  us,  the  God  of  Jacob  put  around  us  his  everlasting  arms, 
the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  comfort  us  with  some  new 
degree  of  grace.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxiii. 

1.  Then  spake  Jesus  to  the  multitude,  and  to  his  disciples, 

2.  Saying,  The  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses'  seat  : 

3.  All  therefore  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do  ; 
but  do  not  ye  after  their  works  ;  for  they  say,  and  do  not. 

4.  For  they  bind  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  lay  them 


THE   TEXT.  149 

on  men's  shoulders  ;  but  they  themselves  will  not  move  them  with  one  of 
their  fingers. 

5.  But  3.11  their  works  they  do  for  to  be  seen  of  men  :  they  make  broad 
their  phylacteries,  and  enlarge  the  borders  of  their  garments, 

6.  And  love  the  uppermost  rooms  (first  places)  at  feasts,  and  the  chief 
seats  in  the  synagogues  (Jerusalem  end), 

7.  And  greetings  in  the  markets,  and  to  be  called  of  men,  Rabbi,  Rabbi. 

8.  But  be  not  ye  called  Rabbi  :  for  one  is  your  Master,  even  Christ  ; 
and  all  ye  are  brethren. 

9.  And  call  no  man  your  father  upon  the  earth  :  for  one  is  your  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven. 

10.  Neither  be  ye  called  masters  (directors  of  conscience)  :  for  one  is 
your  Master,  even  Christ. 

11.  But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your  servant. 

12.  And  whosoever  shall  exalt  himself  shall  be  abased  ;  and  he  that 
shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted. 

13.  But  woe  unto  (for)  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye 
shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against  men  :  for  ye  neither  go  in  your- 
selves, neither  suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering  to  go  in. 

14.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  devour 
widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence  make  long  piayer  :  therefore  ye  shall 
receive  the  greater  damnation. 

15.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  compass 
sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte  (proselytes  were  regarded  as  the  lep- 
rosy of  Israel,  and  hindered  the  coming  of  the  Messiah),  and  when  he  is 
made,  ye  make  him  twofold  more  the  child  of  hell  (worthy  of  hell)  than 
yourselves. 

16.  Woe  unto  you,  ye  blind  guides,  which  say,  Whosoever  shall  swear 
by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing  ;  but  whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  gold  of 
the  temple,  he  is  a  debtor  ! 

17.  Ye  fools  and  blind  :  for  whether  is  greater,  the  gold,  or  the  temple 
that  sanctifieth  the  gold  ? 

18.  And,  Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  altar,  it  is  nothing  ;  but  who- 
soever sweareth  by  the  gift  that  is  upon  it,  he  is  guilty. 

19.  Ye  fools  and  blind  :  for  whether  is  greater,  the  gift,  or  the  altar  that 
sanctifieth  the  gift  ? 

20.  Whoso  therefore  shall  swear  by  the  altar,  sweareth  by  it,  and  by 
all  things  thereon. 

21.  And  whoso  shall  swear  by  the  temple,  sweareth  by  it,  and  by  him 
that  dwelleth  therein. 

22.  And  he  that  shall  swear  by  heaven,  sweareth  by  the  throne  of  God, 
and  by  him  that  sitteth  thereon. 

23.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  pay  tithe 
of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith  :  these  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and 
not  to  leave  the  other  undone. 


i  so  MA  TTHE  W  XXIII. 


24.  Ye  blind  guides,  which  strain  at  (out)  a  gnat,  and  swallow  a  camel 
(an  unclean  beast,  Lev.  xi.  4). 

25.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  make 
clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  of  the  platter,  but  within  they  are  full  of 
extortion  and  excess. 

6.  Thou  blind  Pharisee,  cleanse  first  that  which  is  within  the  cup,  and 
platter,  that  the  outside  of  them  may  be  clean  also. 

27.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  are  like 
unto  whited  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful  outward,  but  are 
within  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  of  all  uncleanness. 

28.  Even  so  ye  also  outwardly  appear  righteous  unto  men,  but  within 
ye  are  full  of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity. 

29.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  because  ye  build 
the  tombs  of  the  prophets  (four  of  which  were  then  visible  at  the  base  of 
the  Mount  of  Olives),  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous  (actions 
good  in  themselves  become  wrong  in  the  hands  of  hypocrites). 

30.  And  say,  If  we  had  been  in  the  days  of  our  fathers,  we  would  not 
have  been  partakers  with  them  in  the  blood  of  the  prophets. 

31.  Wherefore  ye  be  witnesses  unto  yourselves,  that  ye  are  the  children 
of  them  which  killed  the  prophets. 

32.  Fill  ye  up  then  the  measure  of  your  fathers. 

33.  Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  (brood  or  progeny)  of  vipers,  how  can 
ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell  ? 

34.  Wherefore,  behold,  I  send  unto  you  prophets,  and  wise  men,  and 
scribes  :  and  some  of  them  ye  shall  kill  and  crucify  ;  and  some  of  them 
shall  ye  scourge  in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from  city  to 
city  : 

35.  That  upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the 
earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias  son 
of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar. 

36.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  All  these  things  shall  come  upon  this  genera- 
tion. 

37.  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest 
them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  chil- 
dren together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and 
ye  would  not  ! 

38.  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate. 

39.  For  I  say  unto  you,  Ye  shall  not  see  me  henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say, 
Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 


NOT  A   MERE  DESTRUCTIONIST.  151 

A  FOURFOLD  ASPECT  OF  CHRIST. 

JESUS  CHRIST  had  just  received  a  deputation  of  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Herodians.  The  same  day  he  had  received  a  deputa- 
tion of  Sadducees,  and  the  same  day  it  would  appear  he  had 
answered  a  tempting  question  put  to  him  by  a  lawyer,  "  Master, 
which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law?"  We  have  seen 
that  Jesus  Christ  utterly  humiliated  all  the  men  that  came  to  him 
with  questions  that  were  meant  to  tempt  him  and  to  ensnare  him 
in  his  talk.  He  inflicted  upon  them  the  most  desperate  chastise- 
ment. According  to  the  statement  of  the  text,  he  gagged  them. 
We  read,  ' '  he  put  them  to  silence, ' '  literally  he  put  the  gag  in 
their  mouths,  and  made  them  quiet  because  they  could  not  answer 
his  great  expositions. 

It  might  be  thought,  therefore,  that  he  had  cleanly  swept  out 
the  whole  church  of  his  time,  had  dismantled  it  and  had  visited  it 
with  complete  and  perpetual  disinheritance,  so  that  he  stood  before 
his  age  as  a  mere  image-breaker,  an  iconoclast,  a  man  who  smote 
all  existing  things  of  a  religious  kind,  and  poured  upon  them  and 
upon  their  teachers  all  manner  of  severe  and  destructive  contempt. 
Yet  how  he  spreads  himself  over  the  whole  occasion  ;  he  will  not 
allow  that  inference  to  be  drawn  ;  knowing  that  in  every  crowd 
there  is  a  preponderance  of  foolish  and  unreasonable  men,  he  in- 
stantly takes  up  an  affirmative  and  constructive  attitude,  and  says, 
ere  the  great  throngs  break  up,  "  Whatsoever  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  bid  you  observe,  that  observe  and  do  :  but  do  not  ye 
after  their  works,  for  they  say  and  do  not."  Still  he  is  consistent 
with  himself  :  not  one  good  word  will  he  bestow  upon  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees  as  such,  but  he  says  the  law  must  not  suffer  because 
its  interpreters  are  weak  or  vile  men.  The  law  is  an  eternal  quan- 
tity, a  perpetual  dignity  that  can  never  be  impaired  even  by  the 
vilest  behaviour  of  those  who  interpret  it  and  enforce  it ;  that  law 
must  stand. 

You  will  see  therefore  that  he  was  not  a  mere  destructionist :  it 
was  not  Christ's  purpose  to  dishonour  the  law  or  to  enfeeble  its  ap- 
plication in  any  sense.  He  is  saying  in  these  latter  chapters  of  the 
gospel,  precisely  what  he  said  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
' '  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets  : 
I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.     Till  heaven  and  earth 


152  MA  TTHE  W  XXIII. 

pass  away,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  of  the  law  shall  in  no  wise  pass 
away."  Yet  he  rebukes  with  no  stinted  reproach  those  who  had 
fallen  below  the  dignity  and  holiness  of  their  sacred  vocation. 
The  line  he  draws  is  broad,  palpable,  never  to  be  confused  indeed, 
and  in  drawing  that  line  he  displayed,  if  we  may  speak  humanly 
of  him,  one  of  the  finest  qualities  of  his  spirit  and  character. 

He  did  more.  This  was  not  local  talk,  this  was  not  a  speech 
spoken  to  a  few  people  now  dead  and  gone.  In  this  exhortation 
Christ  touches  and  refutes  a  sophism  that  has  found  its  utterance 
in  all  ages  of  civilized  history.  What  is  that  sophism  ?  That  if  a 
man  shall  do  anything  bad,  everything  good  that  he  touches  is  to 
be  condemned  along  with  himself.  Is  not  that  the  sophism  of  to- 
day ?  A  man  who  reads  the  Bible  has  been  found  to  do  some- 
thing wrong  :  instantly  there  are  persons  who  say,  "  This  comes 
of  your  Bible-reading,  then  no  more  Bible-reading  for  me.'' 
Such  is  the  witless  assault  that  is  made  on  the  eternal  Book  !  The 
Bible  reader  is  bad,  therefore  the  Bible  is  bad — such  the  dishonest 
logic,  the  corrupt  and  consciously  corrupt  reasoning  of  men  who 
want  to  escape  Bible  morality  and  Bible  discipline. 

A  man  who  goes  to  church  has  been  found  to  defraud  his  credi- 
tors, to  speak  profane  words,  to  do  some  deed  accounted  bad  by 
social  critics,  be  that  deed  what  it  may,  and  instantly  the  criticism 
falls  upon  the  church  within  whose  walls  no  bad  man  ever  heard 
one  word  of  encouragement.  Put  it  to  yourselves  and  say  whether 
we  may  not  have  sometimes  been  tempted  to  say,  "  If  these  are 
your  Christians,  no  more  Christians  for  us."  Observe  the  vacant 
reasoning,  the  poor,  incoherent,  insane  form  of  argument,  without 
the  substance  or  the  power  thereof.  You  have  found  a  countefeit 
coin,  and  therefore  you  give  up  the  currency  of  the  realm.  Some 
man  has  forged  the  signature  of  another,  and  therefore  you  will 
not  believe  a  single  letter  which  your  child  writes  to  you.  There 
is  falsehood,  therefore  there  is  no  truth.  Who  would  accept  state- 
ments so  palpably  and  intolerably  absurd  ?  Yet  these  statements 
are  considered  sufficient  to  pick  up  sharp  stones  and  throw  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  when  he  speaks  the  great  gospel  of 
truth  and  love  and  redemption,  any  fist  will  do  to  smite  that 
mouth,  any  staff  will  do  to  strike  that  Teacher.  It  is  because  we 
want  to  strike  him  dumb  that  we  avail  ourselves  of  arguments  so 
unsound  as  to  be  not  lies  only  but  blasphemies. 


CHRIST'S  RELATION  TO   TRUTH.  153 

It  may  have  been  so  in  your  house — let  me  localise  the  appeal, 
yea  personalize  it,  after  the  manner  of  the  Master  in  this  very 
chapter.  When  the  one  professing  Christian  in  your  house — there 
is  but  one,  poor  speckled  bird — did  something  wrong,  through 
that  wrong-doer  you  sought  to  thrust  a  dagger  into  his  Master's 
heart.  Remember  your  taunt,  your  bitter  sneer,  your  ungener- 
ous and  ignoble  word  :  it  was  not  the  individual  before  you  that 
you  wounded  only,  but  through  that  individual  you  sought  to  put 
your  sword's  sharp  point  into  the  heart  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Let  us  now — passing  from  this  part  of  the  subject — look  at 
Christ  as  the  centre  of  the  great  multitude  of  scribes  and  Pharisees 
whom  he  addressed  in  the  eloquent  maledictions  which  are  recorded 
in  this  chapter.  It  may  assist  the  imagination  and  may  bring  the 
whole  scene  with  its  moral  suggestions  more  vividly  around  us,  if 
we  think  of  Christ  standing  to-day  in  any  Christian  community, 
surrounded  by  men  who  have  been  playing  falsely  with  his  name. 
The  scribes  and  Pharisees  were  present :  he  was  not  hurling  male- 
dictions upon  the  absent.  When  did  Jesus  Christ  ever  address  per- 
sons who  were  not  actually  before  him  ?  See  the  great  throng  of 
false  men,  scribes,  Pharisees,  hypocrites,  blind  leaders  of  the 
blind,  all  around  him,  and  then  hear  this  terrible  speech.  It  was 
a  day  of  judgment  in  very  deed.  There  was  great  lightning  and 
thunder  that  day,  the  earth  palpitated  to  the  resounding  eloquence, 
and  the  heavens  vibrated  as  the  eloquent  tones  fell  from  the  lips 
divine.  The  men  could  not  run  away,  he  fastened  them  to  the 
earth  :  they  could  not  lift  their  fingers  to  put  into  their  ears,  for 
he  held  them  down,  and  that  day  he  spoke  as  he  had  never  spoken 
before  in  fulness  and  breadth  and  fierceness  of  moral  indignation. 
The  men  were  fascinated,  spellbound — a  subtle  wizardry  held 
them  fast  in  positions  from  which  they  would  most  gladly  have  ex- 
tricated themselves,  but  not  until  He  who  was  the  Master  willed 
it,  were  they  permitted  to  lift  a  foot  from  the  ground  and  to  pass 
away  to  their  occupations  and  their  homes. 

Hearing  Christ's  great  speech,  what  do  we  learn  about  him  ? 
We  see  in  him  a  devotion  to  truth  which  clothed  him  with  sublimest 
fear les sites s.  How  he  talks,  how  he  insults  the  men,  how  he 
beards  them,  how  he  lays  his  great  grip  upon  them  and  shakes 
them,  and  they  cannot  answer  him  a  word.     What  is  the  explana- 


154  MATTHEW  XXIII. 


tion  of  this  mighty  mastery  over  the  leading  spirits  of  his  time  ?  Is 
he  speaking  resentfully  ?  No,  for  the  men  who  speak  resentfully 
are  weak  ;  strong  only  for  one  little  moment,  but  it  is  a  strength 
of  desperation,  to  be  succeeded  by  most  pitiful  reaction.  Account 
for  that  fearlessness.  You  will  find  no  suggestion  that  covers  the 
whole  occasion  but  the  suggestion  now  named — devotion  to  truth, 
so  complete,  so  profound,  as  to  lift  the  man  above  all  fear.  See 
if  there  be  not  a  deep  philosophy  in  that  fact.  Men  are  not  con- 
tinuously and  coherently  strong  except  in  proportion  to  their  de- 
votion to  truth  :  such  men  are  sublimated  by  their  devotion,  they 
are  lifted  up  into  a  new  and  larger  self-hood  :  it  is  no  longer  they 
that  speak,  but  God  that  speaketh  in  them.  The  action  is  not  to 
be  measured  by  their  personality,  they  stand  as  representatives  of 
the  majesty  and  grandeur  of  truth,  they  are  the  heroic  expressions 
of  a  heroic  principle.  You  will  only  be  strong  in  proportion  as 
the  truth — not  some  side,  point,  or  aspect  of  it,  but  the  truth — is  in 
you. 

How  is  it  that  we  have  so  much  breaking  down  in  Christian  testi- 
mony, so  much  ambiguity  and  equivocation  and  uncertainty  ? 
How  is  it  that  we  have  so  much  paltering  with  vow  and  oath  and 
high  resolution?  Simply  because  the  complete  truth  is  not  in  us, 
or  our  devotion  to  truth  is  merely  to  some  side  or  aspect  of  it 
Jesus  Christ  could  say  that  he  was  Himself 'the  truth.  The  Truth 
never  blushed,  never  stammered,  never  apologised,  never  asked  for 
leave  to  be.  The  tone  of  truth  cannot  change,  it  is  royal,  com- 
manding :  if  audacious,  simply  because  complete  and  infallible. 
We  should  be  on  our  guard  lest  we  seize  only  some  points  of  truth, 
and  take,  as  we  sometimes  ignorantly  phrase  it,  our  stand  upon 
particular  doctrines.  There  are  no  particular  doctrines,  in  the 
sense  of  separate  and  isolated  doctrines,  in  truth.  Truth  is  one. 
We  call  the  bigot  a  strong  man  simply  because  he  is  a  narrow  one 
and  moves  in  a  special  direction,  and  we  call  the  devotee  of  truth 
sometimes  a  latitudinarian,  because  he  does  not  live  under  a  ceil- 
ing but  under  a  sky  ;  he  is  not  bounded  by  walls  ecclesiastical, 
but  by  the  infinite  horizon  drawn  by  the  infinite  hand. 

Do  not  be  strong  on  particular  doctrines  and  seek  to  develop 
special  virtues,  and  to  have  pet  graces  :  live  in  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.  When  we  touch  that  high  region 
of  perfect  devotion  to  complete  truth,  we  shall  not  know  what  fear 


CHRIST'S  INSIGHT  INTO   TRUTH.  15$ 

is.  This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith. 
The  true  man  does  not  know  when  the  clouds  gather  or  when  the 
storm  roars  around  him  ;  he  says  the  storm  will  cry  itself  to  rest, 
the  tornado  will  blow  itself  out  in  silence,  and  "  truth  must  stand 
when  all  things  fail. ' ' 

Looking  at  Jesus  Christ  again,  standing  in  the  midst  of  that 
great  seething  multitude  of  scribes,  Pharisees,  hypocrites,  and  blind 
teachers,  I  see  in  him  an  insight  into  truth  which  gave  him  infinite 
pre-eminence  as  a  Teacher.  How  he  destroys  the  sophisms  of  the 
blind  men  !  He  says,  ' '  Ye  blind  guides  which  say,  Whosoever 
shall  swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing  ;  but  whosoever  shall 
swear  by  the  gold  of  the  temple,  he  is  a  debtor  !  Ye  fools  and 
blind  :  for  whether  is  greater,  the  gold,  or  the  temple  that  sancti- 
fieth  the  gold  ?  And,  Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  altar,  it  is 
nothing  ;  but  whosoever  sweareth  by  the  gift  that  is  upon  it,  he  is 
guilty.  Ye  fools  and  blind  :  for  whether  is  greater,  the  gift,  or 
the  altar  that  sanctifieth  the  gift  ?" 

His  all-piercing  insight  into  truth  lifts  him  above  all  competing 
teachers.  Here  we  see  somewhat  of  his  intellectual  breadth  and 
grandeur  coupled  with  a  moral  indignation,  that  becomes  impa- 
tient in  the  very  tones  which  it  utters.  How  he  must  have  said 
these  words  :  again  and  again  are  they  repeated  :  ' '  Ye  fools  and 
blind,  how  is  it  that  you  do  not  see  the  right  relation  and  propor- 
tion of  things  ?  How  is  it  that  you  mistake  the  near  for  the  great, 
the  temporal  for  the  eternal  ?  What  has  become  of  your  common 
sense,  or  ordinary  natural  reason,  that  you  set  all  things  in  a  row 
without  attention  to  perspective  and  distance  and  light  and  shadow 
and  expressive  and  interpreting  colour  ?  What  has  fallen  upon 
you,  what  dementation  is  this,  what  sudden  insanity,  what  moral 
obliquity  ?  Why,  you  have  lost  the  first  conception  of  truth,  and 
you  have  betaken  yourselves  to  metaphysical  quibbles  and  puzzles 
unworthy  of  the  intellect  with  which  God  endowed  you." 

This  is  the  inevitable  course  of  wrong  thinking  in  religious 
matters.  Men  make  vain  distinctions,  they  create  a  series  of 
puzzles,  they  have  so  much  leisure  that  it  becomes  a  temptation  to 
them.  This  is  the  danger  of  the  church  to-day.  We  are  so  over- 
fed with  gospel,  we  are  so  churched  and  preached  to  death,  that 
men  are  now  beginning  to  turn  into  mechanical  puzzles  the  im- 


156  MATTHEW  XXIII. 


measurable,  impalpable,  infinite  truth  of  God.  We  are  now 
creating  sects,  schools,  denominations,  and  so-called  churches  and 
communions.  I  would  God  that  some  fire  of  persecution  should 
break  out  amongst  us  to  force  us  back  to  great  principles,  to  a 
proper  distinction  between  the  temple  and  the  gold,  the  altar  and 
the  gift,  that  we  may  not  be  inverting  things  and  putting  them  into 
false  relations  and  proportions.  If  the  wolf  would  come  back, 
the  old  grey  wolf  that  barked  at  our  heroic  fathers,  watched  for 
them,  showed  its  gleaming  teeth  whenever  they  came  in  sight, 
sprang  upon  them,  sucked  their  blood — -we  should  get  back  to 
right  ideas  of  inspiration,  truth,  prayer,  missions,  evangelisation, 
and  should  cease  the  small  talk  about  mechanism  and  fine  distinc- 
tions and  the  distribution  of  labour — so  diffuse  as  to  lose  its  inten- 
sity and  divest  itself  of  the  force  that  makes  wicked  kingdoms 
tremble. 

What  is  our  insight  into  truth  ?  Do  we  see  it — the  word  that 
Amos  saw  ?  We  have  only  heard  it  in  trembling  and  fading 
echoes.  The  word  that  Hosea  saw,  that  sight  turns  a  poor  man 
into  a  rich  one,  that  sight  turns  a  herdman  into  a  prophet,  that 
sight  marks  the  critical  point  in  all  human  history.  Blessed  are 
the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  .   .   .   SEE  God. 

Let  us  consider — are  we  wood-splitters,  are  we  puzzle-makers  in 
the  church,  or  are  we  inspired  men  ?  Are  we  the  frightened,  the 
timid,  the  conventional,  and  those  who  live  only  on  the  surface  ? 
The  church  has  lost  inspiration.  The  church-  poor,  poor  fool — . 
she  has  allowed  every  thief  to  take  from  her  what  he  liked.  The 
felon  has  taken  from  her  miracles  and  tongues  and  prophesyings 
and  gifts  of  healing,  and  inspiration  and  Christ — except  as  a  great 
historical  genius — and  the  cross,  except  as  it  represents  a  heroic 
but  vain  sentiment.  And  the  felon  is  now  cozening  her  with  a 
view  of  lifting  off  her  GOD.  Poor  church  !  Only  insight  into 
truth  will  bring  back  her  possessions. 

Do  not  be  clever  on  points  :  do  not  give  yourselves  to  a  kind 
of  nisi prius  sharpness.  If  Burke  was  right  when  he  said  that  no 
man  understood  the  English  constitution  so  little  as  a  merely  nisi 
prius  lawyer,  surely  we  are  giving  legitimate  extension  to  the  truth 
when  we  say  that  no  man  understands  Christ  so  little  as  the  man 
who  makes  sects  in  his  name.  Christ  is  not  here,  nor  there,  nor 
yonder,  he  is  not  to  be  localised,  he  is  the  breath,  the  life  of  all 


THE  ELOQUENT  MALEDICTIONS.  157 

things.  There  be  men  who  say,  '  Lo,  Christ  is  here,  and  lo, 
Christ  is  there,"  and  if  another  man  should  arise  amongst  us  to 
say,  "  Christ  is  everywhere — Christ  is  in  Hindooism,  Christ  was  in 
the  Pagan  philosophy,  Christ  has  been  in  every  civilisation  that 
has  rolled  its  particular  course  over  all  languages  and  nations,"  he 
would  be  accounted  latitudinarian.  Be  it  mine  to  see  in  every 
flower  a  child  of  the  sun,  and  in  every  noble  deed  and  heroic  im- 
pulse an  inspiration  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Looking  again  at  that  wondrous  Speaker  as  he  fastens  his  hear- 
ers around  him,  I  see  in  him  a  grasp  of  truth  which  enabled  him  to 
represent  its  continuity  through  the  ages.  Observe  how  he  goes  back- 
ward and  how  he  goes  forward.  He  says,  "  Ye  say,  if  we  had 
been  in  the  days  of  our  fathers  we  would  not  have  been  partakers 
with  them  in  the  blood  of  the  prophets.  Ye  would — ye  serpents, 
ye  generation  of  vipers,  ye  would !  Do  you  suppose  that  this  kind 
of  conduct  depends  on  climate,  on  particular  details  of  time  and 
space  ?  If  you  had  lived  in  the  days  of  Zacharias  you  would  have 
killed  him  on  the  very  spot  where  he  fell  under  your  fathers' 
hand.  Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers,  ye  progeny  of  hell, 
ye  would  I"  So  does  he  grasp  the  truth  !  He  would  have  pleased 
the  people  better  if  he  had  said,  "  You  would  not  have  done 
what  your  fathers  did,  you  are  much  better  men,  much  nobler  and 
kinder  persons  :  it  would  never  have  occurred  to  you  surely  to 
have  imbrued  your  hands  in  the  righteous  blood  of  Abel  :  it  would 
never  have  occurred  to  your  refined  sentiment  to  have  had  any- 
thing to  do  murderously  with  Zacharias  the  son  of  Barachias." 
He  might  have  bought  himself  a  cheap  popularity  by  such  vulgar 
lies,  but  looking  at  them,  piercing  them,  seeing  all  history  in  one 
grand  continuity,  he  said,  "  Ye  blind  guides,  evil  never  changes  ; 
a  serpent  is  always  a  serpent  :  you  have  the  serpent  spirit  in  you, 
and  until  you  are  born  again  you  would  have  done  just  what  your 
fathers  did.  Fill  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity — they  filled  the 
cup  nearly  to  the  brim,  pour  it  full  up,  till  the  drops  fall  on  your 
feet,  and  when  your  mission  is  fulfilled,  God  will  find  a  place  for 
you  in  his  Gehenna." 

We  have  then  to  deal  with  a  Man  who  knows  all  things,  who  is 
not  to  be  betrayed  into  small  sophisms  and  into  narrow  deductions, 
who  looks  around  the  horizon.     What  think  ye  of  the  Christ — of 


158  MATTHEW  XXIII. 


his  eloquence?  How  it  rolls  and  scorches  like  floods  of  lava. 
We  teach  our  boys  at  school  the  Philippics  of  Demosthenes,  and 
say,  "  Look  at  his  interrogations  :  the  mark  of  interrogation  is 
the  chief  point  of  punctuation  upon  his  eloquent  pages.  How 
he  hurls  his  questions,  how  every  question  sharpens  itself  like  a 
dagger  that  is  seeking  the  blood  of  the  accused  one."  There  is 
nothing,  by  the  common  consent  of  men  who  are  entitled  to 
judge  upon  the  matter,  in  all  eloquence,  ancient  or  modern,  to 
compare,  for  grandeur  of  malediction,  for  moral  nobleness,  for 
intellectual  insight,  with  the  eloquence  of  this  denunciation  of 
Christ' s. 

Then  I  see  in  it,  last  of  all,  an  experience  of  truth,  which  made 
Christ  the  greatest  of  evangelists.  He  would  not  conclude  with  ob- 
jurgation. The  truth  does  not  make  him  stiff,  imperious,  self-in- 
volved :  his  love  of  the  truth,  his  experience  of  it  in  his  own  heart, 
is  such  that  he  wants  every  living  man  to  feel  it  as  he  does.  "  O 
Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest 
them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered 
thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under 
her  wings  !"  Why?  Because  he  would  have  all  men  know  the 
truth  as  he  knew  it,  feel  the  truth  as  he  felt  it,  enjoy  the  truth  as 
he  enjoyed  it.  That  is  the  secret  of  evangelisation.  Tell  me  to 
go  and  propagate  a  community,  a  sect,  a  denomination,  and  I 
may  probably  tire  on  the  road.  There  are  inspirations  that  will 
last  but  for  a  period  of  days.  Let  me  on  the  other  hand  feel  in 
my  heart  that  men  are  dying  for  want  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  let 
me  feel  what  it  is  to  enjoy  the  grace  of  Christ  in  my  own  heart, 
let  me  really  feel  that  Christ  can  be  one  with  me,  in  purpose  and 
sympathy  and  desire,  and  then  the  rest  will  come. 

No  words  suggest  themselves  to  me  sharp  enough,  terrible 
enough,  with  which  to  condemn  and  blast  the  sophism  which  is 
being  taught  by  some  men  to-day,  namely,  that  if  we  could  offer 
more  money,  more  young  men  would  come  forward  and  offer 
themselves  to  the  service  of  the  Son  of  God.  I  can  find  no  words 
that  will  enable  me  to  smite  that  awful  blasphemy  as  it  ought  to  be 
struck.  We  hear  it  from  our  Christian  platforms  that  if  our 
churches  could  offer  larger  incomes  we  should  have  what  is  called 
a  better  class  of  young  men  coming  forward  to  give  themselves  to 


A    GOD- INSPIRED   MINISTRY.  159 

the  ministry.  God  forbid  !  God's  own  damnation  fall  upon  any 
man  who  touches  this  ministry  that  he  may  live  by  it  That  is  how 
the  poor  church  is  being  divested,  impoverished,  depleted,  ruined 
— a  young  man  considering  whether  he  will  take  this  sum  of 
money  to  preach  Christ  or  that  sum  of  money  to  follow  a  commer- 
cial pursuit — debating  or  betraying.  If  he  would  turn  to  the  pul- 
pit, my  prayer  would  be  that  God  might  strike  him  dumb  on  the 
road,  and  blind  and  deaf,  and  lay  his  hand  upon  him  like  a  bur- 
den. A  man  must  say,  "  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel, 
necessity  is  laid  upon  me  to  preach  the  gospel,"  but  we  are  mak- 
ing ministers  now,  tempting  them,  encouraging  them  to  come  for- 
ward. Let  a  man  be  driven  forward,  thrust  out,  impelled.  It  is  not 
permitted  to  us  to  boast  or  to  glorify  oneself t  but  it  is  permitted  to 
a  man  to  glorify  God  in  any  impulse  which  may  have  driven  him 
forward  to  this  work. 


LXXXIII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  are  here  still,  even  in  thine  house,  and  in  the  most 
holy  place  upon  the  earth,  even  the  sanctuary  of  God,  because  of  thy  ten- 
der mercy  and  thy  lovingkindness  towards  us.  This  is  the  crown  and 
the  sum  thereof  :  thou  hast  no  other  love  to  show  us  here  and  now,  than 
in  the  house  and  in  the  cross  of  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  the  very 
sun  of  thy  glory,  the  full  outshining  of  thy  grace  and  wisdom,  and  no 
other  light  can  we  now  have  than  that  which  is  the  grace  of  Christ  Jesus. 
We  stand  in  that  grace,  it  is  our  comfort,  our  strength,  our  one  hope  : 
without  it  our  life  has  no  light,  no  music,  no  outlook — with  it  we  have 
new  Heavens  and  a  new  earth  ;  every  day  and  every  breath  we  draw  is  a 
promise  that  we  shall  soon  see  the  broader  revelation. 

Thou  hast  brought  us  up  out  of  the  valley  of  the  week  and  set  out  feet 
upon  a  high  hill,  where  the  wind  is  pure,  and  whence  we  see  all  the  blue- 
ness  of  the  summer  sky,  and  hear  voices  that  are  not  heard  in  other 
places.  This  is  none  other  than  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of 
heaven  :  the  angels  are  not  far  away,  and  the  harpers  harping  with  their 
harps  are  just  behind  the  translucent  cloud.  We  have  come  to  the  gen- 
eral assembly  and  church  of  the  firstborn,  written  in  heaven  :  to-day  our 
aspirations  are  realised  in  a  great  gladness,  we  see  the  invisible,  we  touch 
the  impalpable,  we  are  close  to  God  :  behold  here  we  see  the  shining  of 
thy  garments,  as  thou  dost  stand  backward  towards  us,  for  now  could  we 
not  bear  the  intolerable  shining  of  thy  face.  Make  thy  goodness  pass  be- 
fore us,  and  that  will  be  pledge  enough  that  thy  glory  will  follow.  May 
we  see  thee  in  every  blooming  flower,  hear  thee  in  every  trill  that  makes 
the  woods  alive,  and  feel  thee  near  in  every  tender  perfume  of  the  garden. 
Give  us  a  great  conception  of  thyself,  deliver  us  from  all  narrow  views, 
and  all  superficial  interpretations,  save  us  from  the  poverty  and  the 
bondage  of  the  mean  letter,  and  lead  us  into  the  freedom  of  intelligent 
sympathy  and  the  possession  of  glowing  love. 

We  bless  thee  for  thy  word — so  grand,  so  tender,  broad  as  a  firmament 
and  yet  particular  as  a  shining  star,  having  a  message  to  each  heart,  a  spe- 
cial blessing  for  each  needy  life.  We  bless  thee  for  the  cross,  that  up- 
gathering  and  expression  of  the  principle  of  sacrifice  which  is  part  of  this 
wondrous  scheme  of  thine,  which  is  known  by  every  root  that  brings 
forth  its  stem  and  blossom,  and  felt  by  every  heart,  but  realised  in  all  the 
glory  of  its  meaning  only  in  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 


THE   TEXT  i6r 

me  world.  Help  us  to  live  in  his  Spirit,  to  realise  and  enjoy  with  un- 
utterable gladness  all  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  the  shedding  of  his 
blood.  When  the  tempter  would  drag  us  down,  may  we  answer  him  with 
the  lightning  of  the  cross,  and  find  our  security  in  the  wounded  Son  of 
God  :  he  loved  us,  he  gave  himself  for  us,  he  spared  not  the  blood  of  his 
heart,  and  we  need  it  all. 

Let  thy  merciful  visitation  of  us  this  morning  be  felt  by  every  heart,  so 
that  there  may  be  no  exclusion  from  thy  blessing.  May  the  hospitality  of 
thine  house  offer  itself  to  the  poorest  and  meanest  of  us,  to  the  man 
whose  face  is  an  anxiety  and  whose  heart  is  a  bitter  torment  to  itself. 
Speak  great  hospitable  words  to  the  prodigal  returned,  tell  him  that  there 
is  no  robe  in  thine  house  too  good  for  his  wearing.  Kiss  every  little 
child,  bless  every  one  who  is  weary  and  ill  at  ease,  deliver  from  per- 
plexity the  soul  whose  embarrassments  are  too  vexatious,  and  send  light 
upon  lives  that  have  dipped  down  into  great  caverns  of  darkness.  Lift  us 
all  above  our  fears,  enable  us  to  set  our  feet  upon  the  neck  of  our  spirit- 
ual enemies,  and  may  we  to-day  enter,  not  only  into  the  serenity,  but  into 
the  triumph  of  faith. 

Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.  We  listen  for  the  rolling  of  thy 
chariot  wheels— delay  not  on  the  road  :  thy  whole  creation  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now,  for  thy  coming.  O  bridegroom  of 
the  earth,  come  :  Saviour  of  the  world,  tarry  not  long  behind — we  are 
lost  and  weary  and  sick  and  bruised  :  we  shall  die  presently  if  thou  dost 
not  come.  But  thou  wilt  not  deny  the  voice  of  thine  earth,  thou  wilt 
surely  reply  to  her  sighing,  and  there  shall  yet  be  gladness  where  there 
has  been  much  woe.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxiv.  1-41. 

i.  And  Jesus  went  out,  and  departed  from  the  temple  :  and  his  disci- 
ples came  to  him  for  to  show  him  the  buildings  of  the  temple. 

2.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  See  ye  not  all  these  things  ?  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  There  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another,  that  shall 
not  be  thrown  down. 

3.  And  as  he  sat  upon  the  mount  of  Olives,  the  disciples  came  unto 
him  privately,  saying,  Tell  us,  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what 
shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming  (thy  presence),  and  of  the  end  of  the 
world  (the  age)  ? 

4.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Take  heed  that  no  man 
deceive  you. 

5.  For  many  shall  come  in  my  name,  saying,  I  am  (the)  Christ  ;  and 
shall  deceive  (seduce)  many. 

6.  And  ye  shall  hear  (be  about  to  hear)  of  wars  and  rumours  of  wars  : 
see  that  ye  be  not  troubled  :  for  all  these  things  must  come  to  pass,  but 
the  end  is  not  yet. 

7.  For  nation  shall  rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom  : 


1 62  MATTHEW  XXIV.  1-41. 

and  there  shall  be  famines  and  pestilences,  and  earthquakes,  in  diu«rs 
places. 

8.  All  these  are  the  beginning  of  sorrows. 

9.  Then  shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall  kill  you  : 
and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my  name's  sake. 

10.  And  then  shall  many  be  offended,  and  shall  betray  one  another, 
and  shall  hate  one  another. 

11.  And  many  false  prophets  shall  rise,  and  shall  deceive  many. 

12.  And  because  iniquity  (lawlessness)  shall  abound,  the  love  of  many 
shall  wax  cold. 

13.  But  he  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end,  the  same  shall  be  saved. 

14.  And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the  world 
(Roman  empire)  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end 
come. 

15.  When  ye  therefore  shall  see  the  abomination  of  desolation,  spoken 
of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand  in  the  holy  place  (whoso  readeth,  let  him 
understand  :) 

16.  Then  let  them  which  be  in  Judaea  flee  into  the  mountains  : 

17.  Let  him  which  is  on  the  housetop  not  come  down  to  take  any  thing 
out  of  his  house  : 

18.  Neither  let  him  which  is  in  the  field  return  back  to  take  his  clothes 
(his  cloak). 

19.  And  woe  unto  them  that  are  with  child,  and  to  them  that  give  suck 
in  those  days  1 

20.  But  pray  ye  that  your  flight  be  not  in  the  winter,  neither  on  the 
Sabbath  day  : 

21.  For  then  shall  be  great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world  to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be. 

22.  And  except  those  days  should  be  shortened,  there  should  no  flesh 
be  saved  :  but  for  the  elect's  sake  those  days  shall  be  shortened. 

23.  Then  if  any  man  shall  say  unto  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or  there  ; 
believe  it  not. 

24.  For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs,  and  false  prophets,  and  shall 
show  great  signs  and  wonders  ;  insomuch  that,  if  it  were  possible,  they 
shall  deceive  the  very  elect. 

25.  Behold,  I  have  told  you  before. 

26.  Wherefore  if  they  shall  say  unto  you,  Behold,  he  is  in  the  desert ; 
go  not  forth  :  behold  he  is  in  the  secret  chambers  :  believe  it  not. 

27.  For  as  the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  unto 
the  west  ;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be. 

28.  For  wheresoever  the  carcase  is,  there  will  the  eagles  be  gathered 
together. 

29.  Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be 
darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall 
from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken : 

30.  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven  :  and 


NATURAL    COMPARISONS.  163 

then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of 
man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory. 

31.  And  he  shall  send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and 
they  shall  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of 
heaven  to  the  other. 

32.  Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig  tree  ;  Where  his  branch  is  yet  ten- 
der, and  putteth  forth  leaves,  ye  know  that  summer  is  nigh  : 

33.  So  likewise  ye  (the  pronoun  is  emphatic),  when  ye  shall  see  all 
these  things,  know  that  it  is  near,  even  at  the  doors. 

34.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  This  generation  shall  not  pass,  till  all  these 
things  be  fulfilled. 

35.  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away. 

36.  But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of 
heaven,  but  my  Father  only. 

37.  But  as  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man  be. 

38.  For  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood  they  were  eating  and 
drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day  that  Noe  entered 
into  the  ark, 

39.  And  knew  not  until  the  flood  came,  and  took  them  all  away  ;  so 
shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be. 

40.  Then  shall  two  be  in  the  field  ;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the 
other  left. 

41.  Two  women  shall  be  grinding  at  the  mill  (the  lowest  form  of  female 
labour)  ;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left. 

THE  EXCITING  ELEMENT  IN  CHRIST'S 
MINISTRY. 

IMAGINE  a  river  very  broad  and  deep,  rolling  quietly  and 
rhythmically  for  long  miles,  not  a  bubble  upon  the  surface,  no 
noise,  no  tumult,  a  great,  deep,  strong,  noble  stream  of  water,  and 
imagine  that  stream  suddenly  coming  to  a  terrific  precipice. 
What  a  cataract,  what  a  roar  and  rush  and  tumult,  what  rainbows 
made  by  the  sun,  what  snowy  veils  and  screens,  what  infinite  wiz- 
ardry of  shape  and  sound  and  suggestion  !  It  does  not  look  like 
the  same  water.  Nothing  is  so  accommodating  as  water  ;  it  will 
do  anything,  it  will  allow  itself  to  be  broken  up  into  little  drops 
that  shall  sparkle  like  diamonds  in  the  shining  sun,  and  gather  it- 
self into  great  masses  and  carry  navies  as  if  they  were  straws  driven 
by  the  wind.  It  will  run  through  gardens,  it  will  come  into 
houses  dripping  and  dropping  just  to  suit  the  capacity  of  your  little 


1 64  MA  TTHE  W  XXIV.  1  -4 1 . 

cup  ;  it  will  gather  itself  into  infinite  blackness  in  the  heavens,  and 
fall  in  daily  baptism  upon  the  thirsty  earth.  There  is  nothing  so 
genial,  yet  so  terrible,  as  water — unless,  indeed,  to  be  its  mate  and 
contrast,  fire. 

It  is  even  so  with  these  speeches  of  Christ.  Up  to  within  a  few 
chapters  of  the  portion  we  have  now  read,  the  stream  of  his  talk 
has  rolled  forward  in  infinite  calmness  and  nobleness,  having  no 
end  of  suppressed  power  in  it — but  just  recently  it  has  come  over  a 
terrific  precipice  of  rocks,  and  it  has  been  rolling  and  dashing 
amongst  us  like  a  fierce  cataract,  so  that  some  of  us  have  hardly 
been  able  to  recognise  the  grand,  massive,  eloquent  Speaker,  in 
the  recent  turmoil  and  rush  of  his  enthusiasm,  passion,  and  eager, 
burning  consecration.  Yet  the  Speaker  is  one  and  the  same, 
master  of  all  styles.  Never  man  spake  like  this  Man.  No 
prophet  could  forecast  his  tone,  or  tell  with  certainty  what  course 
he  would  take  in  any  argument,  or  what  answer  he  would  make 
to  any  temptation.  We  are  now  amongst  the  parables  of  judg- 
ment, and  are  standing  in  what  may  be  termed  the  very  sanctuary 
of  destruction  and  sacrifice. 

At  this  moment  the  idea  of  destruction  is  uppermost  in  the  Sav- 
iour's mind.  The  explanation  is  that  his  own  soul  was  sorrowful 
even  unto  death.  When  a  man's  soul  is  sorrowful,  there  is  noth- 
ing being  built  up  outside  of  it.  The  universe  takes  its  hue  and 
tone  and  meaning  from  the  inner  experience  and  consciousness  of 
the  observer.  The  cross  is  already  shouldered,  the  nails  are 
already  half  in  the  quivering  hands,  the  blood  is  already  begin- 
ning to  trickle  down  the  anxious  face.  So  all  things  are  dying 
around  him  :  the  temple  is  trembling,  the  heavens  are  gathering 
themselves  up  into  a  last  agony,  the  old  earth  is  pained  at  her 
heart  and  will  presently  give  way. 

How  exquisite  was  the  correspondence  between  the  inner  and 
the  outer  in  the  life  of  Christ !  He  saw  things  with  his  heart. 
When  he  nestled  in  his  Father's  bosom  and  felt  all  the  serenity  of 
that  divine  warmth,  he  said,  "  Consider  the  lilies  how  they  grow  : 
they  toil  not,  they  spin  not ;  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these. ' '  That  was  his 
view  of  nature  and  of  life,  as  he  laid  his  hand  upon  his  Father's 
heart.      When  he  felt  his  Father's    arms  strongly  and   warmly 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  JUDGMENT.  165 

around  him  he  said,  "  Fear  not,  little  flock  ;  it  is  your  Father's 
good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom,"  and  the  embrace  was 
closer  and  closer  between  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Now  that 
Calvary  is  in  front,  Golgotha,  the  place  of  skulls  and  bones,  pre- 
ceded by  Gethsemane  and  all  that  Gethsemane  means — even  the 
temple,  marble  and  gold,  the  choicest  thing  of  its  kind  in  all  the 
earth,  is  reeling  and  trembling  and  will  presently  fall  flat  down,  a 
mass  and  heap  of  shapeless  stones,  as  if  struck  by  every  wind  of 
heaven.  True  Man,  real  Heart,  grand  Soul,  what  wonder  that 
he  spake  lightning  to  the  hypocrites,  and  tore  the  visors  from  their 
face  with  a  ruthless  energy  ?  They  were  so  unlike  himself  :  he 
fought  them  as  men  would  fight  beasts,  or  ghosts,  or  things  that 
make  the  life  afraid. 

And  the  disciples  come  in  once  more,  with  their  usual  good 
purpose,  and  with  their  usual  feebleness.  Worn  and  sad  of  heart, 
his  life  a  great  agony,  every  look  a  pain,  every  pulsation  a  dying, 
he  was  walking  away  from  the  temple,  and  his  disciples,  well- 
meaning  little  children,  really  soft  of  heart  and  good-willed,  came 
to  him  to  show  him  the  buildings  of  the  temple.  They  thought  it 
would  strike  his  mind — as  in  the  case  of  our  social  sorrows.  They 
would  show  him  something,  they  would  try  to  lure  him  from  his 
brooding  thought  that  had  so  much  blood  in  it  Perhaps  if  they 
talked  to  him,  he  would  forget  his  woe  awhile.  So  like  children 
that  would  show  their  toys  to  a  boy  distressed,  they  would  show 
him  the  beautiful  temple,  they  must  touch  its  stones  with  a  trem- 
bling reverence,  and  thus  seek  to  charm  him  from  his  grief.  He 
heard  what  they  had  to  say,  and  said,  "  Ye  see  these  things?" 
"  Yea,  Lord."  "  There  shall  not  be  left  one  stone  upon  another 
that  shall  not  be  thrown  down.  Do  not  comfort  me  with  things 
that  perish  :  do  not  meet  an  infinite  agony  of  the  heart  with  things 
that  have  the  writing  of  condemnation  upon  their  very  faces. 
Your  meaning  is  good,  but  the  comfort  you  offer  me  is  itself 
short-lived  ;  yea,  presently  a  great  sharp  wind  will  blow  through  all 
this  temple  fabric,  and  no  two  stones  piled  upon  each  other  shall 
anywhere  be  found. ' ' 

Silence  ensues.  Jesus  went  to  the  mount  of  Olives,  and  when 
he  was  quiet  a  little,  the  disciples  came  to  him  to  continue  the 
conversation  which  he  had  suddenly  introduced.  "  Tell  us,  when 
shall  these  things  be  ?  and  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming, 


166  MATTHEW  XXIV.  1-41. 

and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ?' '  Curious  yet.  Not  struck  by  what 
was  going  to  happen  immediately  in  the  way  of  humiliation  and 
death,  always  forgetting  the  cross,  always  forgetting  the  only 
things  they  ought  to  have  remembered,  persistently  throwing  the 
mind  forward  to  glories  and  kingdoms  and  princedoms  and 
masterships  of  various  degree  and  name.  He  could  not  bind  them 
down  to  the  only  thing  he  came  to  exemplify  and  glorify — the 
principle  of  self-sacrifice.  Yet  he  answers  them  now  with  a  thun- 
derstorm. Yet  amid  all  that  thunderstorm  there  are  streaks  of 
blue  sky,  outlooks  upon  silent  and  beautiful  places  that  may  be 
temple  gates  or  the  beginnings  of  infinite  sanctuaries.  Never  was 
such  a  speech  delivered  by  mortal  lips,  its  thunder,  its  silence,  its 
infinite  energy,  its  instruction  which  might  have  been  whispered 
in  the  ear  of  trouble.  It  was  his  own  speech  in  very  deed,  both 
in  its  intellectual  capacity,  in  its  moral  tone,  in  its  subtle  simplic- 
ity, in  its  grand  grasp  of  past,  present,  and  future,  in  all  that  was 
awful  in  grandeur  and  all  that  was  luring  and  tender  in  heaven's 
own  beauty. 

What  is  the  subject  ?  The  coming  of  Christ.  How  will  he 
come — when  shall  these  things  be — what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy 
coming  ?  "  Tell  us,"  said  the  eager  disciples,  "  something  about 
it,  that  thou  hast  not  yet  spoken  to  any  human  ear."  They 
gather  closely  around  him  :  emphatically  they  came  to  him  pri- 
vately, and  they  clustered  around  him — they  would  almost  have 
crushed  him  in  their  eager  love  and  in  the  straining  of  their  at- 
tention to  hear  every  tone  and  whisper  of  that  voice.      "  Tell  us." 

How  could  he  refuse  ?  Twelve  children  overgrown,  twelve 
faithful  yet  fickle  men,  twelve  hearts  that  had  done  all  they  could 
for  him — it  was  indeed  but  little,  still  it  was  not  underestimated 
by  his  all-appreciating  love.  Now  surely  they  will  draw  from  him 
all  that  is  in  his  heart.  How  can  he  refuse  ?  We  have  seen  him 
shake  off  deputations  of  other  kinds,  notably  the  people  who  came 
about  the  tribute  money,  the  Sadducees  who  came  with  a  question 
about  the  resurrection,  others  who  came  tempting  him — he  so 
spake  to  them  that  they  never  came  back  again.  The  burnt  child 
dreads  the  fire.  But  now  these  are  his  own  twelve,  and  they 
want  to  know  all  about  it,  and  the  place  is  propitious  and  con- 
venient— the  mount  of  Olives,  nobody  there  but  themselves — why 
should  not  the  whole  thirteen  of  them  carry  the  same  secret  ?     Yet 


CALLED   TO    WATCH.  167 

he  tells  them  much,  and  keeps  back  the  thing  they  wanted  to 
know,  yea,  in  the  very  midst  of  his  speech  he  saith,  "No  man 
knoweth  the  hour,  no,  not  even  I."  How  he  could  know  and 
not  know,  be  and  not  be,  contradict  himself  with  \iolence  and  yet 
be  the  same,  infinite  in  self-coherence  and  in  self-harmony — fools 
can  never  understand  it,  only  those  who  are  elected,  called,  sancti- 
fied can  enter  into  that  mystery.  He  is  going  to  tell  us,  but  he  will 
not.  He  makes  a  great  speech  and  leaves  us  in  utter  ignorance 
of  the  one  thing  we  desire  to  know.  Yet  he  speaks  the  one  word 
which  it  is  only  needful  for  a  man  to  heed  to  be  truly  wise. 
"  Watch."  The  watcher  wins,  the  watcher  reads,  the  watcher  sees 
the  coming  day.  Watch  !  We  have  seen  men  watch  for  the  sun 
rising  from  the  point  of  the  Righi — all  were  looking  in  one  direc- 
tion, nobody  looking  otherwhere — the  sigh,  the  joy,  the  tears, 
the  religious  silence.  So  says  the  Son  of  man,  "  You  want  to  see 
me  coming,  to  rejoice  in  my  cloudless  light,  to  behold  the  beauty 
of  my  kingdom —  Watch,"  Let  us  regard  this  coming  of  Christ  in 
any  light — coming  into  the  individual  heart,  coming  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  coming  in  the  pomp  and  glory  of  His  power 
and  sovereignty.  Regard  the  coming  of  Christ  in  any  and  every 
sense,  and  let  us  see  what  we  can  learn  from  this  eloquent  exposi- 
tion of  the  case. 

Do  we  not  learn  first  of  all  that  the  coming  of  Christ  makes  itself 
felt  through  all  the  space  of  life?  When  he  moves,  he  stirs  the  uni- 
verse. He  cannot  come  or  go  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  He 
was  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all  things  consist,  and  in  him 
all  things  are  made.  The  clouds  are  the  trailing  of  his  garments, 
and  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  he  flies.  What  wonder  then  that 
when  he  comes  there  shall  be  stir,  tumult,  agitating,  shaking,  a 
pulsing  through  and  through  the  whole  life  and  economy  of 
things  ?  Behold  his  deity  in  this  very  action.  The  earth  would  be 
extinguished  in  its  little  cloud,  and  the  nearest  star  would  not 
know  that  the  spark  had  gone  out — so  says  the  astronomer.  But 
when  the  sun,  at  which  all  lamps  are  lighted,  withdraws,  the  uni- 
verse is  enwrapped  in  impenetrable  and  intolerable  night.  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  centre  of  all  things,  his  life  touches  every  point  and 
tests  every  interest.  Christ  cannot  easily  and  quietly  settle  into  a 
corrupt  scheme  and  become,  so  to  say,  part  and  parcel  of  it. 
Whenever  he  moves,  creation  vibrates  to  his  step.     When  he  came 


1 68  MATTHEW  XXIV.  1-41. 

into  the  world  Herod  and  all  Jerusalem  were  troubled.  Inquiry, 
inquest,  search,  fear,  curiosity,  anticipation,  hope,  gladness — all 
these  conflicting  emotions  and  ministries  were  set  to  work  im- 
mediately :  when  he  comes  into  the  individual  heart,  old  habits 
protest,  old  appetites  cry  out,  the  whole  heaven  and  earth  of  the 
personal  life  are  shaken,  and  they  tremble  under  the  tread  of  his 
coming. 

Do  we  not  also  learn  that  the  coming  of  Christ  seems  in  its 
process  to  contradict  its  result?  What  harmony  is  there  between  a 
Christ  that  shall  pacify  all  things  and  bring  in  sweet  peace  to  reign 
as  universal  queen  and  all  this  tumult — wars,  rumours  of  wars, 
nation  rising  against  nation,  kingdom  against  kingdom,  famines, 
pestilences,  earthquakes,  and  these  are  but  the  beginning  of  sor- 
rows ?  Is  there  any  relation  between  such  phenomena  and  the  in- 
coming of  profound  and  universal  and  eternal  peace  P  The  devil 
dies  hard  always.  The  devil  has  made  up  his  mind  not  to  quit  us 
easily  ;  he  will  have  the  last  pull.  Remember  the  miracle  in  which 
Jesus  Christ  ordered  the  devil  out  of  the  sufferer,  and  the  devil  tore 
him  and  came  out  of  him,  but  not  without  a  final  struggle,  not 
without  one  more  assault,  not  without  upgathering  his  whole 
energy  and  seeking  to  kill  him  in  the  very  act  of  leaving  him.  So 
it  must  be  in  the  individual  heart,  in  the  national  conscience,  in  the 
universal  aspiration  and  feeling.  Whenever  Christ  comes  he  comes 
by  processes  that  seem  to  contradict  the  very  idea  of  his  coming. 

Is  this  your  experience  ?  Be  not  afraid,  be  not  cast  down  by  a 
great  fear  and  sorrow,  lest  Jesus  Christ  be  not  coming  to  you  at 
all.  Say  you,  "I  am  only  fighting,  struggling,  praying  without 
an  answer,  knocking  at  a  door  that  will  not  open,  but  I  am  still 
knocking — can  this  be  right  ?  I  have  doubts,  anxieties,  tumults, 
that  I  dare  not  put  into  words," — is  that  your  speech  ?  It  reads 
as  if  part  of  this  mightier  eloquence — "  Nation  shall  rise  against 
nation — famines,  pestilences,  earthquakes,  desolations,  abomina- 
tions, great  tribulations."  Your  little  cross  is  cut  out  of  this  in- 
finite tree  on  which  is  hanging  the  Son  of  God.  Let  no  man's 
heart  therefore  fail  him  because  he  is  now  only  in  the  tribulational 
period  of  this  progress.  The  Son  of  God  is  coming,  though  at 
present  it  seems  as  if  the  Son  of  God  had  forsaken  the  universe. 

Nothing  happens  in  all  this  tumult  that  was  not  foreseen.  In 
the  twenty- fifth  verse  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  Behold,  I  have  told  you 


NO   UNFORESEEN  EVENTS.  169 

before."  There  are  no  surprises  to  Omniscience:  nothing  hap- 
pens by  accident  in  all  the  machinery  and  economy  of  the  universe. 
The  very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.  There  are  no  ac- 
cidents, in  any  lawless  and  incoherent  sense  of  the  term.  All 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God.  My 
brethren,  count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall  into  divers  trials,  because 
out  of  the  working  of  these  trials  shall  come  a  complete  and  final 
peace.  What  knowledge  of  human  nature  is  here  revealed  on  the 
part  of  the  Son  of  God.  He  knows  the  course  of  truth  in  the 
world,  he  knows  precisely  what  every  man  will  feel,  how  certain 
interests  will  be  shocked,  how  evil  habitudes  must  be  displaced  by 
violence,  and  how  at  the  last  there  will  be  a  fight  between  evil  and 
good,  devil  and  God,  that  shall  seem  to  wreck  the  universe.  God 
knows  the  whole  scene  down  to  Armageddon's  bloody  field — it  is 
before  the  Divine  vision  :  not  a  soul  in  all  the  holy  army  shall  be 
lost,  but  when  the  night  falls  on  the  ghastly  field,  only  evil  shall  be 
wounded  and  smitten  with  death.  Hope  on,  live  in  watchfulness 
— 'tis  not  ours  to  lead,  but  quietly  and  loyally  to  follow. 

Now  in  view  of  these  marvellous  circumstances,  the  inquiry 
becomes  very  natural —  Why  should  the  incoming  of  the  Son  of 
God  be  accompanied  by  commotion  and  tumult  so  tremendous  ? 
Why  not  come  like  a  dawning  day,  why  not  like  the  springing 
corn  or  the  budding  flower  ?  He  does  come  exactly  like  these  very 
things  you  have  named.  Like  break  of  day — know  ye  what  that 
means  in  the  jungles  where  beasts  congregate  and  vermin  swarm  in 
countless  multitudes  ?  Know  ye  that  the  shining  of  the  sun  upon 
some  places  is  like  a  shower  of  darts  ?  How  the  forsaken  holes 
are  sought  by  the  wandering  vermin,  how  eyes  not  made  for  much 
light  flee  away  from  the  broadening  day  as  from  an  enemy  that 
will  kill  and  spare  not?  And  the  springing  corn — do  not  talk 
lightly  about  the  springing  corn  as  though  it  were  all  ease.  Thou 
fool,  that  which  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die.  The 
springing  corn  is  a  springing  out  of  corruption,  life  out  of  death, 
the  mystery  of  germination,  the  central  mystery  of  material  things. 
The  springing  corn — how  that  sharp  spike  pierces  the  dust  and 
comes  up  into  the  light,  and  how  quietly  it  grows,  say  you  ?  So  it 
does,  but  to  what  end  does  it  grow  ?  See  how  the  blade  grows  up 
into  the  ear,  and  how  the  full  corn  grows  in  the  ear,  and  how  the 
golden  head  is  bent  again  towards  the  dust  out  of  which  it  came, 


170  MATTHEW  XXIV.  1-41. 

and  how  it  stands  there  like  a  doomed  sacrifice  awaiting  the  priest's 
knife  that  shall  cut  it  down  and  grind  it  between  the  upper  and 
the  neither  millstone,  and  burn  it  with  fire,  and  then  give  the 
world  its  bread.  Is  there  no  tumult,  is  there  no  pain,  is  there  no 
agony  there  ?  He  does  come  as  break  of  day  and  as  springing 
corn. 

And  think  ye  that  the  dust  of  the  earth  has  no  history  of  sorrow 
and  smiting  and  wounding  and  great  pain  ?  How  is  the  dust 
formed  ?  By  terrible  revolutions,  by  shattering  rains,  by  powder- 
ing winds  :  the  dust  is,  so  to  say,  the  sweat  of  the  very  rocks,  the 
dust  itself  is  the  result  of  smiting,  grinding,  pulverising  by  proc- 
esses which,  if  the  earth  had  been  sensitive,  would  have  meant 
sorrow,  pain,  bitterness,  Golgotha,  Calvary.  The  whole  creation 
groaneth,  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now. 

And  the  spring  comes  through  difficulty  :  the  winter  will  hardly 
let  it  come,  the  great  winter  that  you  thought  had  gone,  comes  up 
ten  days  after  the  spring  has  had  possession  and  says,  "  Retire," 
blows  upon  the  green  young  thing  great  breaths  of  ice,  and 
sometimes  it  seems  as  if  the  spring  must  go  away  and  never  come 
again.  Dear  spring,  sweet  child,  vernal  beauty,  truly  thou  hast  a 
great  fight  to  fight  to  get  thy  hold  upon  the  earth.  Spring  wrestles 
with  winter,  fights  him  bravely,  will  have  her  way,  and  ' '  flings  a 
primrose  on  the  bank  in  pledge  of  victory." 

So  Christ  will  come.  Let  no  man  attempt  to  define  the  advent 
of  Christ.  Let  it  take  upon  itself  the  smallest  or  the  largest  mean- 
ing— it  will  always  imply  shaking,  distress,  war,  desolation,  move- 
ment of  the  most  terrific  kind  ;  but  over  it  all,  under  it  all,  round 
about  it  all,  is  the  sweet  promise  that  the  whole  earth  shall  be  the 
garden  of  God,  the  old,  old  earth  shall  have  the  best  robe  flung 
around  its  shoulders,  and  like  a  returned  prodigal  shall  be  set  in 
its  Father's  house  to  go  out  no  more  for  ever.  We  are  part  of 
the  earth,  and  every  man  of  us  shall  be  saved — not  a  soul  amongst 
us  shall  be  lost.  Hope  on,  fight  on,  pray  on,  and  even  thou, 
poor  wanderer,  miserable  self-tormentor,  shut  up  with  devils  at 
night  and  fighting  invisible  foes  all  day — even  thou  shalt  be  oh  the 
right  side  of  the  door  when  the  door  is  shut. 


LXXXIV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  always  coming  :  behold  Jesus  Chrtsi  is  born 
amongst  us  every  day,  every  night  the  shepherds  sing  and  hear  tne  song 
of  the  angels,  and  are  filled  with  great  joy  because  the  delivering  life  has 
come  into  the  world.  May  Christ  be  born  in  us  the  hope  of  glory,  and 
may  he  come  to  us  with  the  light  of  every  morning,  and  shine  upon  us  all 
the  night  long  through  every  star.  Enable  us  always  to  hear  the  footfall 
of  thy  coming,  that  we  may  always  watch  and  be  ready,  and  be  found 
amongst  those  servants  who  are  blessed  because  of  their  industry  and 
vigilance. 

Enable  us  to  know  the  uncertainty  of  our  life  as  we  surely  know  the 
littleness  of  its  span.  So  teach  us  to  number  our  days  that  we  may  apply 
our  hearts  unto  wisdom.  May  we  know  how  to  reckon  our  days  well, 
with  all  soberness  and  accuracy,  that  we  be  not  found  amongst  those  fools 
who  suppose  they  can  never  die.  Enable  us  by  the  ministry  of  thy  Holy 
Spirit,  ever  indwelling  and  ever  working  within  us,  to  see  life  as  it  is,  in 
its  simplicity  and  mystery,  in  its  immediate  duty  and  its  far-off  anticipa- 
tions, in  its  tragedy  of  sin,  in  its  need  of  divine  help,  and  enable  us,  hav- 
ing seen  all  this,  to  avail  ourselves  of  divine  answers  to  the  whole  neces- 
sity, and  to  live  in  thy  truth  and  walk  in  the  light  of  thy  revelation. 
Teach  us  that  greatest  of  all  lessons,  self-renunciation,  utter,  complete, 
joyous,  triumphant  trust  in  God. 

In  thee  we  would  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  not  only  by  the 
necessity  of  nature,  but  by  the  compulsion  and  sweet  constraint  of  sym- 
pathy and  love.  We  have  undertaken  for  ourselves,  and  behold  a  great 
failure  is  the  result.  We  cannot  touch  the  inner  wound,  we  cannot  heal 
the  disease  which  consumes  our  life,  but  there  is  balm  in  Gilead,  there  is 
a  Physician  there,  there  is  One  who  is  mighty  to  save,  Jesus  Christ  of 
God,  Emmanuel,  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Prince  of  peace,  known  to 
us  by  many  names  expressing  one  love,  and  completing  one  grand  capacity 
to  deliver.  We  bless  thee  for  Jesus  Christ  :  we  needed  his  name  for  our 
names  are  poor  without  it  ;  we  needed  his  presence  as  flowers  need  the 
sun.  Thou  hast  not  withheld  him  :  by  a  great  shining  of  love  he  fills  the 
whole  sky,  and  by  infinite  tenderness  of  grace,  he  re-lights  the  lamp  of 
our  hope  day  by  day,  so  that  we  can  look  beyond  death  and  the  grave 
and  all  things  terrible  and  feast  our  vision  on  the  Paradise  of  God. 
Whilst  we  are  here,  make  us  quick  to  know  thee  well,  clear-sighted  that 


172  MATTHEW  XXIV.  42-51. 

we  may  see  the  inner  meaning  of  thy  word,  and  conscientious,  that  with 
all  faithfulness  of  purpose  and  service  we  may  do  the  immediate  duty, 
and  find  in  it  a  great  reward. 

We  commend  one  another  tenderly  to  thy  care.  We  find  no  fault  with 
one  another,  for  when  we  stand  in  thy  presence,  we  are  all  guilty  before 
God,  but  we  pray  for  one  another  with  all  the  desire  and  simplicity  of 
eager  love,  that  every  one  may  have  a  blessing  all  his  own,  that  there 
may  fall  upon  us  a  common  benediction,  impartial  as  the  glory  which 
lights  every  corner  of  the  earth.  Pity  our  littlenesses  :  in  the  day  of  our 
feebleness  and  humiliation  look  not  upon  us  with  the  scorn^we  cannot 
bear.  Pardon  our  sin  :  when  it  is  greatest,  thy  love  is  greatest  :  where 
sin  abounds,  grace  doth  much  more  abound.  Thou  wilt  have  the  heathen 
for  thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  posses- 
sion, and  thy  blood  shall  take  away  the  sin  of  the  whole  world.  This  is 
our  joy,  this  our  hope,  and  out  of  this  glad  prospect  do  we  draw  every 
song  that  our  heart  would  sing. 

O  Living  One,  cause  death  itself  to  die  ;  O  thou  in  whose  heart  there  is 
no  purpose  but  of  love  to  the  children  of  men,  drive  out  of  our  hearts  all 
anger,  wrath,  bitterness,  clamour,  and  selfishness,  and  make  our  spirits 
sanctuaries  of  thine  own  presence. 

We  commend  unto  thy  tender  love  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray — the 
old,  who  will  soon  become  young  again  ;  the  young,  who  know  nothing 
of  the  mystery  and  sadness  of  the  world  into  which  they  have  come  ;  the 
poor,  to  whom  it  is  a  hardship  to  live  ;  the  rich,  who  have  the  responsi- 
bility of  wealth  ;  the  wayward  and  the  wandering,  the  prodigal,  who  seems 
as  if  unable  to  come  home  again,  the  hard  heart  that  even  our  love  cannot 
soften.  We  pray  for  the  sick  and  those  that  are  ill  at  ease,  for  all  who 
are  housed  in  our  hospitals  and  are  there  receiving  the  ministrations  of 
science  and  Christian  charity.  We  pray  that  thou  wouldst  make  their  bed 
in  their  affliction,  comfort  them  in  their  manifold  sorrows,  and  sanctify 
unto  them  every  visitation  of  thy  purpose.  Prosper  thou  all  wise  and 
learned  men  who  are  searching  into  the  causes  and  the  remedies  of  dis- 
ease ;  let  a  great  light  shine  upon  them  in  all  their  inquiries,  and  may  the 
time  come  when  disease  shall  be  unknown  because  sin  is  no  longer  in  the 
world. 

The  Lord  give  us  this  day  sweet  messages  from  Heaven  :  may  we  hear 
great  voices,  like  rushing,  "mighty  winds,  and  tender  voices,  the  very 
whispers  of  God's  own  love,  so  that  according  to  our  necessity  all  the 
revelation  of  Heaven  may  be  adjusted.  Make  every  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel to-day  as  a  flame  of  fire,  anoint  him  with  an  unction  from  the  Holy 
One,  and  make  the  Christian  pulpit  this  day  vindicate  itself  as  the  supreme 
institution  of  the  world  for  the  education  and  inspiration  and  ennoble- 
ment of  the  human  mind.  To  this  end  do  thou  make  even  our  weakness 
a  cause  of  strength,  and  make  all  thy  preachers  but  instruments  on  which 
thou  wilt  discourse  the  music  of  the  eternal  decrees  and  the  infinite  love. 
Amen. 


CHRIST  WILL   COME.  173 


Matthew  xxiv.  42-51. 

42.  Watch  therefore  :  for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your  Lord  doth  come. 

43.  But  know  this,  that  if  the  goodman  of  the  house  had  known  in 
what  watch  the  thief  would  come,  he  would  have  watched,  and  would  not 
have  suffered  his  house  to  be  broken  up. 

44.  Therefore  be  ye  also  ready  :  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the 
Son  of  man  cometh. 

45.  Who  then  is  a  faithful  and  wise  servant,  whom  his  lord  hath  made 
ruler  over  Bis  household,  to  give  them  meat  in  due  season  ? 

46.  Blessed  is  that  servant,  whom  his  lord  when  he  cometh  shall  find  so 
doing. 

47.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  he  shall  make  him  ruler  over  all  his 
goods. 

48.  But  if  that  evil  servant  shall  say  in  his  heart,  My  lord  delayeth  his 
coming  ; 

49.  And  shall  begin  to  smite  his  fellow-servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink 
with  the  drunken  ; 

50.  The  lord  of  that  servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he  looketh  not 
for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that  he  is  not  aware  of, 

51.  And  shall  cut  him  asunder,  and  appoint  him  his  portion  with  the 
hypocrites  :  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 


THE  TWO  FUTURES. 

YOU  know  that  he  will  come,  you  do  not  know  at  what  pre- 
cise hour  he  will  appear.  The  future  is  known,  yet  un- 
known. Consider  what  the  future  is.  It  touches  the  uttermost 
bound  of  time.  If  one  might  perpetrate  a  contradiction  in  terms, 
it  is  the  horizon  of  eternity,  the  furthest  away  point  in  a  line  which 
has  no  limits.  We  are  obliged  thus  to  talk  in  self-contradictory 
speech  when  we  would  represent  the  great  and  grand  things  of 
creation.  Number  has  to  be  set  aside  or  talked  of  in  terms  that 
appear  to  be  confusing,  as  the  Three  are  One,  and  the  One  is 
Three. 

There  are  two  futures.  This  is  a  fact  which  is  so  often  forgot- 
ten in  the  reasoning  of  men.  There  is  a  grand  future,  and  a  Utile 
one  ;  the  great  future  in  which  Imagination  holds  court,  the  future 
of  fancy  and  speculation,  the  unmapped  land  of  dream  and  fancy 
and  vision,  where  life  is  to  be  a  miracle,  and  every  day  a  keen  sur- 
prise. That  is  the  future  which  the  poets  have  taken  under  their 
care,  that  is  the  future  whose  firmament  they  have  punctuated  with 


174  MATTHEW  XXIV.  42-51. 

radiant  stars  ;  but  there  is  a  little  future  in  which  Imagination  has 
been  supplanted  by  Anxiety,  the  future  that  is  just  about  to  dawn, 
the  near  To-morrow,  the  Presently  that  makes  weak  men  restless 
and  strong  men  quiet  in  hopefulness. 

With  these  two  futures  we  are  well  acquainted.  The  danger  is 
that  we  confuse  them  in  our  view  and  reasoning,  and  should  thus 
be  talking  about  two  totally  different  things  in  one  and  the  same 
way.  We  have  a  future  which  we  consign  to  Imagination  :  we 
have  another  future  which  we  hand  over  to  Anxiety,  and  anxiety 
often  beats  imagination,  gets  a  firmer  grip  of  some  men  than  Im- 
agination can  ever  get ;  men  who  take  thought  for  to-morrow  may 
take  no  thought  for  eternity  :  anxiety  bars  and  limits  and  bounds 
them  with  prison  boundaries  and  forces.  Their  anxiety  is  greater 
than  their  imagination  because  their  selfishness  is  greater  than  their 
religion.     Herein  it  is  that  so  many  persons  get  wrong. 

So  we  have  two  futures,  the  near  and  the  distant,  the  future  in 
which  Anxiety  plays  its  vexatious  and  harassing  part,  and  the  great 
future  where  Imagination  revels  and  poetises  and  dreams  ;  and  my 
difficulty,  as  a  religious  teacher,  is  this,  that  my  scholars  or  pupils 
will  so  give  way  to  little  carking  mean  anxiety  as  to  leave  no  space 
or  time  or  opportunity  for  the  consideration  of  that  grand  future 
which  must  come  and  bring  with  it  all  that  we  mean  by  the  sweet 
pure  name  .of  Heaven. 

Let  us  see  how  Jesus  Christ  himself  treated  the  question  of  the 
future.  His  action  in  relation  to  it  was  varied  yet  consistent,  and, 
as  usual,  was  authoritatively  instructive.  In  the  first  place  Jesus 
Christ  used  the  future  as  a  source  of  inspiration,  but  it  was  not  the 
little  future  of  to-morrow,  it  was  the  great  future  of  all  time  unborn 
that  he  so  used  ;  he  often  spoke  of  the  Grand  Future.  "  Hereafter 
ye  shall  see  heaven  opened,"  said  he.  "  What  thou  knowest  not 
now,  thou  shalt  know  hereafter. "  "I  have  many  things  to  say 
unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now."  "  Fear  not,  little 
flock  :  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom. " 
"  He  that  endureth  unto  the  end  shall  be  saved."  "  When  the 
Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with 
him."  You  do  not  wonder  that  a  man  who  could  project  himself 
thus  infinitely  across  the  ages,  should  say,  from  the  point  of  his 
final  projection,  "  Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow,  do  not  be  the 
victims  of  anxiety  ;  have  a  future,  but  let  it  be  a  grand  one,  apoca- 


LIVING   IN  THE  FUTURE.  175 

lyptic  in  its  possibility  and  colour  and  form  and  tone,  worthy  of 
the  mind  that  dreams  it ;  and  do  not  be  the  victims  of  anxiety  and 
petty  care  and  carking  vexation."  He  provided  for  that  particular 
element,  so  to  say,  of  the  human  mind,  which  must  take  hold  of 
the  future,  but  as  he  saw  that  element  rising  and  asserting  itself, 
he  put  within  its  grasp  something  worthy  of  its  capacity. 

The  New  Testament  is  full  of  the  same  thought.  What  wonder 
that  Jesus  Christ  said,  "  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  the  prophets"  ? 
The  world  must  live  in  its  prophecies.  To-day  is  too  small  a  bound- 
ary for  the  soul  :  one  world  at  a  time  was  not  enough  for  the 
soldier  Alexander — 'tis  not  enough  for  a  man  in  whom  the  divinity 
has  come.  The  prophets  lived  in  the  sunny  future,  so  did  Christ 
set  his  little  church  under  its  warm  rays,  and  bless  it  with  the 
promise  that  the  voice  of  the  turtle  should  be  one  day  heard  above 
the  roar  of  the  storm.  Our  life  is  not  to  be  locked  up  in  the  nar- 
row prison  of  one  day.  Among  the  riches  of  the  church  are  not 
only  things  present  but  things  to  come.  These  things  to  come 
make  up  the  mystery  of  glory  which  burns  in  the  apocalypse.  A 
nation  is  to  be  born  in  a  day,  the  enemy  of  man,  the  old  Abaddon 
is  to  be  encoded  in  chains  that  cannot  be  broken,  the  dead  are  to 
be  raised  incorruptible,  death  itself  shall  die,  the  grave-scars  are  to 
be  rubbed  out  of  the  green  earth,  sorrow  and  sighing  are  to  flee 
away,  the  whole  creation,  forgetting  its  grievous  overthrow  and  its 
sharp  pain,  shall  stand  fast  on  eternal  pillars  and  be  beautiful  as  a 
palace  built  for  God. 

Nor  is  this  the  poetry  of  speech  ;  it  is  the  reality  of  fact.  The 
word  poetry  is  often  misunderstood  :  it  is  the  blossom  0/  reality,  the 
uppermost  phase  and  culminating  beauty  of  hard  history  and 
stern  fact.  Tell  me — does  he  talk  mere  poetry,  in  the  sense  of 
talking  only  that  which  is  visionary  and  impossible,  who  takes  a 
root  or  a  seed  of  a  flower  and  says,  "  Out  of  this  shall  come 
strength  and  shapeliness,  bud  and  blossom  and  fruit  :  birds  shall 
sing  in  its  branches  and  men  shall  lie  down  at  noon  beneath  its 
cool  shade — or  out  of  this  little  seed  shall  come  a  flower,  an 
apocalypse  in  itself,  and  the  bee  shall  draw  honey  from  its  hidden 
cell  "  ?  If  we  had  never  seen  the  outcome  of  root  or  seed  we 
should  say  concerning  such  a  man — "  Visionary,  poetical,  roman- 
tic, dreamy,  utterly  without  practical  sagacity  and  arithmetical  and 
measurable  aptitude  in  relation  to  things  of  time  and  sense."     But 


176  MATTHEW  XXIV.  42-51. 

the  man  is  no  mere  poet  in  the  sense  of  creating  universes  in  words 
only  :  rightly  judged,  the  man  who  so  speaks  about  root  or  seed 
is  only  an  historian  by  anticipation  ;  he  is  a  reasoner,  he  is  the 
prince  of  logicians. 

In  viewing  the  future,  therefore,  do  not  be  drawn  away  by  the 
cry  of  poetry  or  romance.  He  is  no  visionary  who  sees  in  the  seed 
time  the  prose  out  of  which  will  come  the  poetry  of  harvest.  On 
the  other  hand  he  would  be  the  loose  reasoner  who  sees  seed  only 
in  the  seed,  wood  only  in  the  root,  and  did  not  see  in  the  seed 
waving  cornfields,  and  food  for  the  lives  of  men.  There  shall  be 
a  handful  of  corn  on  the  top  of  the  mountains,  the  fruit  thereof, 
the  poetry  thereof,  shall  shake  like  Lebanon.  Was  he  only  a  word- 
painter  who  so  spoke  ?  Credit  him  with  the  most  penetrating 
vision  and  with  that  grand  historical  capacity  which  sees  all  possi- 
bilities in  the  germ  and  seed  of  things. 

There  is  a  poetry  which  is  the  highest  form  of  fact.  If  a  man 
could  have  said  in  England  two  hundred  years  ago,  that  communi- 
cation with  the  ends  of  the  earth  would  one  day  be  a  question  of 
mere  moments,  and  that  according  to  the  face  of  the  clock  men 
would  be  talking  in  New  York  about  something  which  had  hap- 
pened in  London  actually  before  it  had  taken  place,  he  would  have 
been  regarded  as  the  wildest  of  lunatics,  without  practical  aptitude, 
one  of  the  dreaming  seers  that  you  can  make  nothing  of,  a  puzzle 
in  providence,  the  very  mystery  of  Omnipotence.  Yet  would  he 
not  in  reality  have  been  the  severest  of  reasoners,  the  most  acute 
and  penetrating  of  logicians  P  We  who  have  no  faith  discount 
and  discredit  the  faith  of  other  men.  The  passionless  man  can 
never  understand  passion,  the  literalist  cannot  follow  the  logic  of 
prophecy,  the  moral  Laplander,  can  never  be  made  to  dream  of 
the  luxuriant  Christian  tropics.  You  cannot  be  more  than  you 
are.  But  do  not  therefore  say  that  other  men  are  no  more  gifted 
than  yourselves.  There  are  men  to  whom  there  has  been  no 
future  in  the  sense  of  cloud  and  mystery  and  chaos,  but  to  whom 
the  future  has  given  up  its  secret  in  many  a  fore-blessing  rain,  in 
many  a  secret  hint,  in  many  a  quiet  night  visit,  in  many  a  glow- 
ing dream. 

Do  not  let  us  therefore  measure  others  by  ourselves.  We  have 
to  take  our  view  of  the  future  from  Christ,  and  he  regarded  the 
future  as  an  inspiration.      It  was  his  sanctuary  of  retreat  :  he  lived 


LIVING   IN  HE  A  VEN.  177 

in  it,  he  projected  himself  beyond  the  fevered  day,  and  lived  in  the 
calm  eternity.  We  must  do  the  same,  or  we  shall  be  vexed  and 
stung  with  details  which  come  and  go  with  the  fickle  wind. 
Blessed  is  the  future  which  is  coming  upon  Christ's  church,  a  day 
without  a  threatening  cloud,  an  infinite  paradise  without  one  thorn 
or  noxious  plant,  a  home  from  which  no  child  has  wandered,  a 
sweet  heaven  unvisited  by  sin  and  untroubled  by  pain.  •  Such  is 
the  flower  which  comes  out  of  the  Christian  seed,  and  he  who 
foresees  and  foretells  its  coming  is  not  a  speaker  of  words  but  a 
prophet  of  facts.  Therefore  comfort  one  another  with  these  words. 
If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable. 
We  have  reckoned  this  world  at  a  cheap  rate  because  of  the  power 
of  an  endless  life.  If  there  be  no  endless  life,  we  have  done  this 
world  an  injustice.  Our  light  affliction,  therefore,  is  but  for  a 
moment,  while  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at 
the  things  which  are  not  seen  ;  for  the  things  which  are  seen  are 
temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.  In  pro- 
portion as  we  live  in  heaven  are  we  masters  of  earth  :  just  as  we 
hide  ourselves  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  great  future  and  view  all 
things  from  Christ's  standpoint  are  we  at  rest,  and  amid  raging 
seas  and  rocking  mountains  our  eyes  look  upon  the  river,  the 
streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  Let  us  see  to  it  that 
we  follow  Christ  in  this,  namely,  that  we  do  not  live  in  the  little 
future  which  is  mastered  by  anxiety,  but  in  the  great  future,  which 
yields  its  riches  to  a  reverent  imagination. 

In  the  next  place,  Christ  treated  the  future  as  unknown  and  yet 
well  biown.  "  Watch  therefore  :  for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your 
Lord  doth  come.  Therefore  be  ye  also  ready  :  for  in  such  an 
hour  as  ye  think  not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh.  Of  that  day  and 
hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of  heaven,  but  my 
Father  only."  Here  we  have  a  quantity  spoken  of  that  is  well 
known  yet  unknown,  unknown  yet  well  known.  Have  we  any 
parallel  to  this  in  our  lower  courses  of  thinking  and  action  ?  Most 
assuredly  we  have.  We  know  that  to-morrow  will  come  :  tell  me 
what  will  to-morrow  bring  with  it — a  sullen  face  of  cloud  or  a 
bright  countenance  of  June  light,  blessing  the  lands  that  wait  for 
it  with  all  the  benediction  of  summer  ?  We  know  the  great  fact 
that  to-morrow  will  dawn  ;  we  know  not  what  will  be  the  incidents 
of  the  day,  who  shall  live,  who  shall  die,  what  controversies  will 


178  MATTHEW  XXIV.  42-51. 

be  adjusted,  what  correspondence  will  turn  our  thoughts  into  new 
directions,  and  tax  our  energies  with  new  claims.  We  know  it — 
we  do  not  know  it. 

So  with  the  harvest  :  the  harvest  will  surely  come,  but  will  it  be 
good  or  bad,  early  or  late,  satisfying  or  disappointing  ?  Will  it  be 
well  gathered  or  ill  gathered  ?  The  harvest  is  known,  but  the 
incidents  of  its  quality  and  abundance  no  man  can  know,  with  cer- 
tainty. And  death  will  come.  When  ?  Thank  God  we  cannot 
tell.  Who  could  face  his  duty,  if  he  knew  to  a  moment  when 
and  how  he  would  die  ?  The  great  future  is  revealed,  the  detailed 
future  is  mercifully  kept  back.  Watch  therefore — therefore  be  ye 
also  ready.     That  is  all. 

So  then  from  the  parallels  or  analogies  which  are  supplied  by 
our  own  life  I  can  understand  in  part  Christ's  treatment  of  the 
future.  The  Lord  will  come  :  great  events  will  transpire,  the 
trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  elect  shall  be  gathered  together  from 
the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other.  The  long- 
waiting  earth  shall  receive  her  Lord — when  P  Of  that  day  and 
hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of  heaven,  but  my 
Father  only.  There  are  some  secrets  which  can  be  at  rest  in  only 
one  heart. 

And  yet  Jesus  Christ  viewed  the  future  as  having  an  immediate 
influence  on  the  present,  therefore  he  called  for  vigilance  and  readi- 
ness, and  rebuked  the  men  who  were  so  miscalculating  the  coming 
of  the  future  that  they  did  injury  to  their  fellow-servants.  He  had 
such  a  knowledge  of  history  that  he  was  enabled  to  tell  his  age 
that  in  the  days  of  Noah  men  were  eating  and  drinking,  marrying 
and  giving  in  marriage,  and  knew  not  until  the  flood  came  in  great 
blotches  of  black  rain  upon  the  hot  streets,  and  the  lightning 
flashed  and  the  thunder  rolled  and  the  whole  heaven  became  a 
deluge  and  the  wicked  were  lost.  "So,"  said  he,  "  it  will  be 
about  this  coming  of  my  own.  Men  will  chaffer  with  one  another, 
hold  wordy  controversy  with  one  another  in  points  theological  and 
e  ecclesiastical,  and  will  speak  about  difficulties  which  a  reverent 
heart  could  have  subdued  and  dissolved,  or  be  indulging  in  selfish 
appetite  and  desire  until  the  great  trumpet  sound  and  the  event 
transpire.  Such  was  his  grasp  of  the  future,  such  his  insight  into 
its  breadth  and  narrowness  ! 

We  cannot  improve  though  we  might  enlarge  his  lesson,  when 


CHRIST'S  RELIGION  PRACTICAL.  179 

he  condensed  his  instruction  into  one  word,  ' '  Watch. ' '  A  great 
expectation  warms  the  heart,  a  grand  dream  helps  us  to  bear  the 
burden  of  the  sweltering  day,  and  noble  thought  ennobles  the 
mind  which  entertains  it.  He  who  has  only  a  wall  in  front  of  him 
is  in  a  prison.  He  who  is  bounded  by  a  horizon  has  an  infinite 
liberty. 

Now  Christ  comes  into  the  region  which  we  term  practical,  and 
in  that  region  he  says,  "  Be  ready  :  WATCH  :  be  in-  the  tower  : 
be  looking  out  :  at  any  moment  the  crisis  of  creation  may  super- 
vene. "      To  work  in  this  spirit  is  to  work  well. 

Jesus  Christ  was  always  practical,  though  oftentimes  he  said 
ihings  which  seemed  to  be  of  a  visionary  nature.  He  was  practical 
when  he  told  his  church  to  take  care  of  the  poor  and  to  visit  the 
sick  and  bless  the  unblest  and  give  joy  to  him  who  was  sad  of 
heart.  Christianity  has  its  own  secularism  as  well  as  its  own  the- 
ology. To  hear  some  persons  talk  one  would  imagine  that  Chris- 
tianity was  only  the  latest  phase  of  the  theological  imagination. 
Christianity  has  its  humanities  as  well  as  its  divinities.  There  are 
two  commandments  in  its  infinite  law,  the  love  of  God,  the  love 
of  man.  There  is  no  religion  under  heaven  so  hard-working  as 
Christianity  :  it  never  rests.  Hindooism  has  its  At  Home,  Ma- 
hometanism  makes  no  proselytes,  Confucianism  lets  the  world 
alone,  but  Christianity  lets  nobody  alone.  It  is  the  working  religion, 
the  missionary  religion,  the  energetic  faith,  the  revolutionary  force. 
Do  give  Christianity  the  credit  of  being  the  hardest  working  relig- 
ion known  amongst  men.  I  do  not  mean  merely  hard-working  in 
any  ceremonial  sense,  but  in  the  largest  sense  of  beneficence,  love, 
evangelisation,  caring  for  everybody,  never  resting,  until  the  last 
man  is  brought  in.  Not  judging  by  majorities,  but  judging  by 
individualities  ;  counting  every  man  one,  and  reckoning  that  its 
work  is  unfinished  till  the  last  man  is  homed  in  the  very  heart  of 
Christ. 

Our  Christianity  is  nothing  if  it  be  not  thus  practical.  He  only 
is  the  visionary  theologian  who  is  so  lost  in  theological  speculation 
as  to  neglect  the  ignorance,  the  disease,  the  poverty  which  are  lying 
round  about  his  very  house  and  path. 


l8o  MATTHEW  XXIV.  42-51. 


"  This  Gospel  shall  be  preached  for  a  witness  to  all  nations,  and  then  shall 
the  end  be."  "  That  is  the  end  of  Jerusalem,  before  the  destruction 
whereof  the  Gospel  was  preached  throughout  the  world.  Witness  Paul, 
saying,  Their  sound  hath  gone  out  into  all  the  earth  ;  and  again,  The 
Gospel  is  preached  to  every  creature  under  heaven,  so  that  ye  may  see  it 
running  from  Jerusalem  into  Spain.  And  if  one  only  apostle,  Paul, 
spread  the  Gospel  so  far,  what  shall  we  think  did  all  the  rest  ?  And  this 
was  a  great  miracle  for  the  convincing  of  the  unbelieving  Jews  before 
their  destruction,  for  the  Gospel  to  be  preached  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
in  twenty  or  thirty  years  at  the  most  ;  if  this  would  not  move  them  to  be- 
lieve, nothing  could." — (Chrysostom).  "This  must  not  be  understood 
as  done  by  the  apostles,  for  there  are  many  barbarous  nations  of  Africa 
amongst  whom  the  Gospel  was  never  yet  preached,  as  we  may  gather  by 
such  as  have  been  captives  there.  This  therefore  remaineth  yet  to  be  ac- 
complished ;  and  because  it  is  a  secret  when  the  world  shall  be  filled  with 
the  Gospel,  it  is  a  secret  likewise  when  shall  be  the  day  of  judgment,  be- 
fore which  this  must  be." — (Augustine.) 


LXXXV. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  who  alone  bore  our  sins 
and  carried  them  away,  do  thou  now  hear  our  praise  and  our  prayer. 
There  are  no  silent  hearts  in  thine  house,  no  mouth  is  closed  in  dumb- 
ness, we  are  inspired  with  a  sense  of  thankfulness,  for  we  have  nothing 
that  we  have  not  received,  and  we  are  debtors  all  to  the  continual  mercy 
of  God.  We  stand  in  the  mercy  of  Christ,  we  breathe  the  love  of  Christ  ; 
because  Christ  is  our  Head  and  Saviour  and  Lord,  therefore  do  we  appear 
in  thy  presence,  the  living  to  praise  thee.  We  have  no  life  of  our  own  : 
we  are  not  our  own,  we  are  bought  with  a  price,  we  are  the  ransomed  of 
the  Lord,  we  have  been  delivered  by  the  right  hand  of  his  power  and  the 
right  hand  of  his  grace.  Because  of  the  cross  of  Christ  we  are  what  we 
are,  to  it  we  owe  our  every  hope,  as  from  it  we  draw  our  only  consola- 
tion. Root  us  and  ground  us  in  Christ's  wisdom  and  Christ's  love,  may 
we  be  no  more  children  tossed  to  and  fro,  but  men  in  understanding, 
strong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  wise  with  the  wisdom  which 
cometh  down  from  above. 

Deliver  us  from  all  false  reasoning,  from  all  excuses  that  are  worthless, 
from  every  snare  that  is  laid  for  our  feet,  and  as  for  the  temptations 
which  form  part  of  our  daily  culture,  enable  us  to  answer  them  every  one 
with  the  wisdom  and  grace  of  Christ.  Give  us  some  understanding  of 
ourselves,  that  we  may  be  no  longer  fools,  but  wise,  buying  up  the  time, 
redeeming  every  opportunity,  seizing  and  magnifying  every  opening  thou 
dost  give  to  us,  into  wider  liberties  and  nobler  services. 

We  would  love  thy  word  :  we  would,  having  found  it,  eat  it,  as  men 
who  are  an  hungered  eat  bread.  To  the  end  that  we  may  understand  thy 
word,  grant  us  a  continual  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  All  things  are 
plain  to  him  that  understandeth — do  thou  then  light  the  lamp  of  our  un- 
derstanding, and  explain  to  our  soul,  the  mysteries  for  which  there  are  no 
fit  words.  Rebuke  us  in  gentleness,  reproach  us  not  in  thine  indignation, 
for  who  can  stand  against  thee  when  thou  dost  awaken  to  controversy  ? 
Teach  us  by  manifold  experience,  by  gentle  ministries,  by  incidents  that 
convince  the  understanding,  and  show  the  heart  the  background  and  the 
outlook  of  things.  With  this  wisdom  we  shall  not  err  :  so  fortified,  we 
cannot  be  overthrown.  To  the  Strong  for  strength  we  flee — pity  our 
weakness  and  grant  us  thy  power. 

Thou  hast  set  us  within  a  brief  lifetime  and  called  upon  us  to  fulfil  the 
obligations  of  stewardship.     The  time  is  so  short,  the  enemy  so  strong, 


1 82  MATTHEW  XXV. 


the  temptations  so  many — there  is  but  a  step  between  time  and  eternity. 
Thou  hast  set  things  together  in  immediate  and  startling  contrast  ;  we 
sleep  in  one  world  and  awake  in  another  :  we  are  close  to  the  invisible 
state,  the  dead  are  not  far  away,  the  great  Heaven  kindly  stoops  down  to 
us  that  we  may  overhear  its  sweet  melody,  and  the  great  deep  pit  opens, 
that  we  may  see  how  terrible  is  the  penalty  of  sin.  May  we  be  wise 
men,  faithful  stewards,  beneficent  servants,  so  that  whether  thou  dost 
come  through  the  wedding  feast  or  as  a  Lord  having  charge  of  his  house, 
or  as  the  Judge  of  the  nations,  we  may  be  ready  to  meet  thee.  Blessed 
are  they  who  have  been  at  the  cross,  for  they  can  meet  thee  at  the  judg- 
ment seat. 

Comfort  us  according  to  the  pain  of  our  distress  :  let  our  tears  plead 
with  thee  and  let  our  infirmity  be  known  in  heaven  as  our  strongest  plea. 
Thou  wilt  not  crush  us,  thou  wilt  not  thunder  upon  us  with  thy  great 
power,  thou  wilt  not  overcome  us  with  the  billows  of  the  sea — thou  wilt 
lead  us  by  the  brink  of  a  river,  the  streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of 
God.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxv. 

i.  Then  shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  likened  unto  ten  virgins,  which 
took  their  lamps  (torches),  and  went  forth  to  meet  the  bridegroom. 

2.  And  five  of  them  were  wise  (prudent),  and  five  were  foolish. 

3.  They  that  were  foolish  took  their  lamps,  and  took  no  oil  with  them  : 

4.  But  the  wise  took  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps. 

5.  While  the  bridegroom  tarried,  they  all  slumbered  and  slept. 

6.  And  at  midnight  there  was  a  cry  made,  Behold,  the  bridegroom 
cometh  :  go  ye  out  to  meet  him. 

7.  Then  all  those  virgins  arose,  and  trimmed  their  lamps. 

8.  And  the  foolish  said  unto  the  wise,  Give  us  of  your  oil  ;  for  our 
lamps  are  gone  out  (going  out). 

9.  But  the  wise  answered,  saying,  Not  so  ;  lest  there  be  not  enough  for 
us  and  you  :  but  go  ye  rather  to  them  that  sell,  and  buy  for  yourselves. 

10.  And  while  they  went  to  buy,  the  bridegroom  came  ;  and  they  that 
were  ready  went  in  with  him  to  the  marriage  :  and  the  door  was  shut. 

11.  Afterward  came  also  the  other  virgins,  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  open 
to  us. 

12.  But  he  answered  and  said,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  I  know  you  not. 

13.  Watch,  therefore,  for  ye  know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein 
the  Son  of  man  cometh. 

14.  For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  travelling  into  a  far  coun- 
try, who  called  his  own  servants,  and  delivered  unto  them  his  goods. 

15.  And  unto  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  another 
one  ;  to  every  man  according  to  his  several  ability  ;  and  straightway  took 
his  journey. 


THE   TEXT.  183 


16.  Then  he  that  had  received  the  five  talents  went  and  traded 
(wrought,  or  was  busy)  with  the  same,  and  made  them  other  five  talents. 

17.  And  likewise  he  that  had  received  two,  he  also  gained  other  two. 

18.  But  he  that  had  received  one  went  and  digged  in  the  earth,  and  hid 
his  lord's  money. 

19.  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  servants  cometh,  and  reckoneth 
with  them. 

20.  And  so  he  that  had  received  five  talents  came  and  brought  other 
five  talents,  saying,  Lord,  thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents :  behold, 
I  have  gained  beside  them  five  talents  more. 

21.  His  lord  said  unto  him,  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant : 
thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  (the  word 
ruler  is  not  in  the  Greek)  over  many  things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of 
thy  lord. 

22.  He  also  that  had  received  two  talents  came  and  said,  Lord,  thou 
deliveredst  unto  me  two  talents  :  behold,  I  have  gained  two  other  talents 
beside  them. 

23.  His  lord  said  unto  him,  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant  ;  thou 
hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many 
things  :  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord. 

24.  Then  he  which  had  received  the  one  talent  came  and  said,  Lord,  I 
knew  thee  that  thou  art  an  hard  man,  reaping  where  thou  hast  not  sown, 
and  gathering  where  thou  hast  not  strawed  : 

25.  And  I  was  afraid,  and  went  and  hid  thy  talent  in  the  earth  :  lo, 
there  thou  hast  that  is  thine. 

26.  His  lord  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  wicked  and  slothful 
servant,  thou  knewest  that  I  reap  where  I  sowed  not,  and  gather  where  I 
have  not  strawed  : 

27.  Thou  oughtest  therefore  to  have  put  my  money  to  the  exchangers 
(bankers),  and  then  at  my  coming  I  should  have  received  mine  own  with 
usury  (interest). 

28.  Take  therefore  the  talent  from  him,  and  give  it  unto  him  which 
hath  ten  talents. 

29.  For  unto  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundance  :  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away  even  that 
which  he  hath. 

30.  And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  outer  darkness  :  there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

31.  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy 
angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory  : 

32.  And  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations  (all  the  Gentiles)  :  and 
he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his 
sheep  from  the  goats  : 

33.  And  he  shall  set  the  sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the 
left. 

34.  Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye 


r84  MATTHEW  XXV. 


blessed  of  my  Father  (who  belong  to  my  Father),  inherit  the  kingdom  pre- 
pared for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  : 

35.  For  I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat :  I  was  thirsty,  and 
ye  gave  me  drink  :  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in  : 

36.  Naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  :  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me  (cared 
for  ;  from  the  same  root  as  Episcopas)  :  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came 
unto  me. 

37.  Then  shall  the  righteous  ansv/er  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we 
thee  an  hungred,  and  fed  thee  ?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee  drink  ? 

38.  When  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  ?  or  naked,  and 
clothed  thee  ? 

39.  Or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  prison,  and  came  unto  thee  ? 

40.  And  the  King  shall  answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me. 

41.  Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  Depart  from 
me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels  : 

42.  For  I  was  an  hungred,  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat:  I  was  thirsty, 
and  ye  gave  me  no  drink  : 

43.  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in  :  naked,  and  ye  clothed 
me  not :  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me  not. 

44.  Then  shall  they  also  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we 
thee  an  hungred,  or  athirst,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick,  or  in 
prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee  ? 

45.  Then  shall  he  answer  them,  saying,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me. 

46.  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment :  but  the 
righteous  into  life  eternal. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  JUDGMENT. 

IN  this  chapter  the  parables  of  judgment  come  to  their  natural 
and  vivid  conclusion.  The  twenty-fifth  chapter  is  the 
twenty-fourth  chapter  in  a  new  form.  The  twenty-fourth  chapter 
is  hardly  in  the  style  of  the  New  Testament  :  it  might  be  taken  from 
Ezekiel  or  Daniel  so-  far  as  many  of  its  figures  and  prophecies  are 
concerned.  Wars  and  rumours  of  wars,  nation  rising  against  nation 
and  kingdom  against  kingdom,  famines  and  pestilences  and  earth- 
quakes— surely  these  are  words  which  belong  to  the  old  prophets 
rather  than  to  the  gentle  Prince  of  peace.  Tribulation,  darkening 
of  the  sun,  the  moon  withholding  her  light,  the  stars  falling  from 
Heaven,  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shaken,  and  all  the  tribes  of 


ONLY  TWO    CLASSES.  185 

the  earth  mourning  in  unutterable  distress,  and  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  with  power  and  great  glory,  the 
angels  trumpeting  from  the  sky,  and  gathering  the  elect  from  the 
four  winds,  from  one  end  of  Heaven  to  the  other — this  is  more 
like  the  sonorous  eloquence  of  the  ancient  prophets  than  the 
speech  of  him  who  did  not  lift  up  his  voice  nor  cause  it  to  be 
heard  in  the  streets.  But  we  have  surely  come  to  another  tone  in 
this  Man's  voice  ;  he  has  grown  intenser  lately.  He  began  softly, 
with  healings  and  beatitudes  and  gentlest  speeches,  such  as  might 
fall  upon  waiting  and  distressful  hearts  with  infinite  consolation, 
but  latterly  he  has  been  speaking  much  of  judgment  and  of  wrath 
to  come  and  of  the  final  Heavens.  We  have  seen  a  meaning  in 
all  this.  As  he  neared  the  cross,  he  seemed  also  to  near  the  / 
judgment  seat. 

In  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  we  come  back  more  to  the  earlier 
style.  The  great  thunder-storm  has  darkened  and  passed  away 
in  infinite  shocks  and  terrible  apocalyptic  visions  and  threatenings. 
Now  see  how  blue  the  sky  is  right  overhead,  and  how  exquisitely 
dappled  all  the  clouds  that  gather  around  the  horizon,  and  hear 
how  the  birds  sing,  and  dear,  placid,  radiant  summer  seems  to  be 
all  round  about  our  life.  Yet  quickly  again  clouds  gloom  the 
Heavens,  and  trumpetings  are  heard,  but  farther  off,  and  even  now 
the  great  judgment  seat  is  planted,  and  the  heathen  are  gathered 
from  all  Gentile  lands  to  be  sent  upward  or  downward,  according 
to  their  spirit. 

The  chapter  is  really  but  one  subject.  The  parables  are  three, 
the  subject  is  one.  In  all  the  three  forms  of  this  truth  you  find 
that  Christ  recognizes  in  human  life  only  two  classes.  He  has  not 
changed  his  estimate  of  human  society  since  he  delivered  his  ser- 
mon on  the  mount.  In  concluding  and  applying  that  most  mar- 
vellous of  all  speeches,  he  had  but  the  two  classes  before  him 
which  he  names  in  the  first  parable  in  this  chapter — the  wise  and 
the  foolish.  Mark  the  consistency  of  his  view.  Though  he  has 
been  speaking  these  many  months  and  looking  at  society  from  a 
variety  of  standpoints,  yet  he  has  not  changed  the  distribution  of 
classes  which  he  recognized  in  the  very  first  of  his  great  and  elabo- 
rate discourses.  When  he  concluded  he  said,  "  They  that  hear 
these  sayings  of  mine  and  do  them,  shall  be  wise,  and  they  that 
hear  these  sayings  of  mine  and  do    them  not,  shall  be  foolish." 


1 86  MATTHEW  XXV. 

And  in  this,  one  of  his  latest  parables,  he  describes  the  ten  virgins 
as  being  equally  divided  into  precisely  the  same  classes,  ranged 
under  the  leadership  of  wisdom  on  the  one  hand,  and  folly  on 
the  other.  And  so  in  regard  to  these  servants  who  had  delivered 
unto  them  their  Lord's  goods,  there  were  but  two  classes,  the  care- 
ful and  the  unprofitable,  the  slothful  and  the  productive  ;  and  in 
the  final  parable,  in  which  Gentile  nations  are  called  around  his 
throne  and  separated  into  right  hand  and  left  hand  classes,  there 
is  no  third  quantity,  no  shading  off  into  this  or  that  more  striking 
colour. 

This  makes  our  own  standard  of  criticism  very  clear.  Where 
are  we — wise  or  foolish,  profitable  or  unprofitable,  beneficent  or 
selfish  ?  The  metaphysician  cannot  trouble  us  here,  we  are  not 
now  in  the  region  of  hard,  difficult  words,  we  are  face  to  face 
with  the  great,  problem  of  real  character.  Let  every  man  judge 
himself.  And  in  the  whole  of  this  judgment  you  will  observe  a 
principle  which  we  ourselves  cannot  but  acknowledge  to  be  right. 
There  is  no  new  principle  of  judgment  introduced  here,  nothing 
that  shocks  our  moral  consciousness — the  voice  of  the  judge  in 
every  one  of  those  cases  is  a  voice  which  takes  up  and  rounds  into 
completeness  the  voice  of  every  honest  heart,  the  whole  world 
over.  You  cannot  construct  Heaven  out  of  doubtful  materials. 
You  may  constitute  an  experimental  society,  an  empirical  attempt 
to  do  things  in  some  other  way  than  they  have  ever  been  done 
before  ;  but  a  Heaven  never  can  be  built  out  of  materials  of 
uncertainty  and  doubtfulness,  and  that  have  about  them  all  the 
unreliableness  of  unascertained  qualities  and  forces. 

As  business  men,  gather  yourselves  around  these  parables,  and 
tell  me  if  you  have  not  here  the  simplest  and  strongest  justice. 
How  would  you  do  under  the  same  circumstances  ?  Take  the  in- 
stance of  the  unprofitable  servant — to  what  was  the  reward  in  the 
case  of  those  who  had  profited  by  their  stewardship  ?  It  was 
given  to  industry,  to  faithfulness,  to  an  honest  attempt  to  make 
the  best  of  life.  If  the  men  who  had  five  talents  and  two  talents 
respectively  had  said,  "  We  have  worked  night  and  day  over  this 
business  and  it  has  come  to  nothing,"  their  Heaven  would  have 
been  just  as  sure  as  it  was  when  they  doubled  the  original  dowry. 
If  any  man  can  say  to  Christ  at  the  last,  "  I  have  done  my  best, 
I  have  bought  up  the  opportunities,  I  have  endeavoured,  with  an 


BENEVOLENT  EXERTIONS  FRUITFUL.  187 


honest  heart,  to  work  out  my  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling, and  behold  the  upshot  of  it  is  that  I  seem  to  be  weaker  now 
than  I  was  at  first — Lord,  what  shall  I  do?"  to  such  a  speech 
Christ  has  but  one  answer. 

Do  not  take  undue  encouragement  from  that  suggestion, 
because  the  speech  itself  is  founded  upon  an  impossibility.  No 
man  can  do  his  best  in  the  gospel  sense  of  the  term,  and  under 
evangelical  conditions,  without  his  exertions  ending  in  honourable 
issues.  This  is  not  a  speculation,  this  is  not  a  tossing  of  the  dice, 
all  of  which  may  come  down  blank  ;  this  is  not  throwing  seed 
upon  barren  ground  that  has  in  itself  no  force  of  germination  or 
possibility  of  productiveness.  In  this  region  everything  tells  :  the 
out-putting  of  a  hand  may  be  a  battle  won,  the  purpose  of  an 
honest  heart  to  make  two  grass  blades  grow  where  only  one  grew 
before,  to  lessen  the  sum  total  of  human  distress,  to  mitigate  the 
burden  which  crushes  human  life,  is  itself  an  inspiration  from  God 
and  the  very  beginning  of  Heaven.  Do  not,  therefore,  let  us  take 
too  gloomy  a  view  of  the  situation  in  which  we  are  placed.  This 
is  a  soil  that  must  grow  according  to  that  which  is  put  into  it.  In 
the  morning  sow  thy  seed,  in  the  evening  withhold  not  thine  hand, 
and  Heaven  shall  be  the  blessed  and  final  issue  of  the  effort. 

And  the  unprofitable  servant,  was  he  not  treated  according  to 
what  we  believe  to  be  honest  and  sound  principles  ?  Is  not  this 
the  very  law  of  your  family  ?  Without  it  could  society  hold 
together  in  solid  continuity  and  useful  combination  for  one  day  ? 
Jesus  Christ  showed  the  man  how  he  might  have  done  the  best 
with  his  talent  even  in  the  event  of  his  view  being  true.  There  is 
always  an  alternative  from  unproductiveness  :  it  is  not  either  pro- 
ductiveness along  one  line  or  non-productiveness  along  another. 
Jesus  said  to  him  in  effect,  "  You  could  not  work  as  those  two 
other  servants  have  worked  independently  individually,  with  high 
resoluteness  of  will  and  determination  to  make  the  best  of  things 
— you  ought  therefore  to  have  worked  in  co-operation  with  other 
people.  You  could  not  go  forth  and  work  independently  and 
alone,  with  heroic  courage  and  indestructible  chivalry,  being  all 
day  long  sustained  by  hopes  the  world  could  neither  see  nor  mea- 
sure— you  ought  therefore  to  have  joined  some  community  of 
men,  you  ought  to  have  been  a  partaker  in  some  organized  scheme 
of  Christian  benevolence.     You  could  not  go  out  and  be  a  mis- 


1 88  MA  TTHE W  XXV. 


sionary  in  the  far-away  heathenism — you  ought,  therefore,  to  have 
given  what  I  gave  you  to  the  church,  to  the  collection  made  in 
the  church,  that  so  your  money  might  have  been  turned  to  the 
highest  advantage.  That  was  the  right  thing  :  it  might  have  been 
you  were  called  to  be  a  missionary,  but  seeing  you  could  not  do 
that,  you  ought  to  have  put  my  money  to  the  bankers,  who  were 
collecting  the  money,  and  making  the  best  use  of  it.  If  you  could 
not  be  a  worker  by  yourself  you  could  be  part  of  a  larger  whole. 

Christ  will  not  have  slothfulness  nor  unproductiveness.  He 
will  not  have  the  benefits  and  conditions  of  heaven  wasted  and 
perverted.  "  Thou  oughtest  to  have  given  my  money  to  the 
bankers,  to  them  who  sat  at  the  bancum  or  bench,  and  who  took 
it  and  used  it  and  returned  the  interest  which  they  realized  in  the 
commercial  use  of  it. "  So  in  the  great  church.  Some  men  can- 
not lead  it,  some  men  cannot  stand  alone  :  they  are  weak  when 
they  are  left  to  themselves — they  ought  therefore  to  join  the  com- 
munity, to  be  part  of  a  great  confederation,  to  work  together,  if 
they  have  not  the  faculty  of  making  an  individual  signature,  and 
an  individual  mark  in  the  world's  progress. 

And  now  we  have  in  those  three  parables  three  different  ways  of 
stating  the  same  truth.  It  is  in  forgetfulness  of  this  fact  that  so 
many  critics  get  wrong.  Unless  they  see  the  same  form  of  words, 
they  cannot  realise  the  fact  that  the  very  selfsame  thing  is  meant. 
They  say  that  Mark  and  John  do  not  agree  in  their  answer  to  a 
particular  question  of  the  most  vital  kind.  I  deny  it.  You  say 
that  you  do  not  find  in  Matthew  what  you  find  in  Luke  with 
regard  to  certain  high  directions  as  to  the  culture  of  life  and  its 
destiny.  I,  for  one,  have  not  met  with  any  contrariety  of  teach- 
ing upon  any  vital  question  with  which  the  New  Testament  con- 
cerns itself.  I  have  seen  that  in  the  teaching  of  Christ  there  is  no 
searching  of  his  understanding,  hefainteth  not,  neither  is  weary,  to 
him  it  is  as  breathing  to  speak  new  parables,  and  as  but  the  utter- 
ance of  a  word  to  set  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  in  different  angles, 
so  that  it  may  throw  from  its  ever-varying  face  different  light  and 
colours.  But  a  careful  search  into  these  three  parables  will  show 
us  that  we  have  precisely  the  same  principles  expressed  in  three" 
very  different  forms.  Truth  must  be  so  expressed  because  of  the 
variety  of  mental  constitution  with  which  it  has  to  deal.  One  of 
the  parables  does  not  belong  to  you,  but  the  other  may.     With 


VARIETY  OF  APPEAL. 


the  first  two  you  may  seem  to  have  little  or  no  concern,  but  in  the 
last  you  find  yourself  enclosed  as  in  a  circle  that  cannot  be  broken. 
And  contrariwise  you  seem  to  have  no  part  in  the  one  or  in  the 
other,  but  in  the  remaining  one  you  find  your  judgment  and  your 
destiny.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  a  wedding-feast — hearts 
of  a  certain  kind  respond  to  the  very  tone  in  which  the  feast  is 
announced.  They  love  hospitality  and  the  music  of  welcome  and 
the  excitement  of  preparation  and  the  outlook  of  high  festival  and 
continual  delight.  Others  are  of  a  sterner  type  of  mind.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  man  travelling  into  a  far  country  who 
called  his  own  servants  and  delivered  unto  them  his  goods — there 
the  particular  mind  which  they  represent  is  arrested,  it  would  con- 
sider the  course  taken  by  the  man  and  by  the  servants,  it  would 
enter  with  singular  zest  and  real  concern  into  the  unwinding  of 
the  whole  economy. 

Others  are  of  a  still  higher  imagination,  who  can  only  be 
touched  from  remote  distances  and  caught  in  vast  schemes  and 
propositions — here  is  something  that  will  happen,  when  the  Son 
of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him — 
and  when  they  gather  to  watch  the  issue  of  the  event  they  are 
humbled  and  rebuked  ;  the  imagination  which  was  aglow  at  the 
beginning  is  abased  at  the  end,  for  they  find  that  he  is  going  to 
settle  destiny,  not  upon  high  poetical  and  imaginative  principles, 
but  on  the  giving  and  withholding  bread  and  water  from  the  hun- 
gry and  the  thirsty. 

Thus  at  every  point  he  is  Lord.  Whatever  the  parable,  he 
brings  it  to  the  same  solid  issue  :  he  vexes  and  torments  the  very 
imagination  which  he  inspires,  and  yet  at  the  last  he  leads  all 
minds  into  deep  and  complete  rest.  The  Lord  deals  with  men 
according  to  their  peculiarities  :  one  man  is  very  rich,  and  he 
would  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  he  is  told  to  unbur- 
den himself  of  all  his  worldly  goods.  And  one  standing  by  and 
overhearing  the  direction  says  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  tell  that 
man  he  must  be  born  again.  Did  he  not  ?  He  put  that  speech 
into  the  only  words  that  particular  kind  of  man  could  understand. 
The  world  is  not  made  up  of  philosophical  Nicodemuses,  who  can 
understand  metaphysical  and  occult  expressions  :  he  must  change 
his  language  and  his  oratory  according  to  the  man  who  hears. 
To  the  young  man  he  said,  "  Sell  all  and  give  to  the  poor."      He 


190  MATTHEW  XXV. 


could  have  understood  no  other  speech.  And  the  Christ  who  said 
to  Nicodemus,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  did  not  say  that  to  some  other  man 
who  applied  to  him,  to  the  lawyer,  for  example,  who  asked  what 
he  must  do  to  inherit  eternal  life — no,  because  every  man  is 
answered  according  to  his  own  peculiar  constitution,  temperament, 
education,  circumstances,  and  yet  the  answer  is  one  and  the  same, 
through  and  through,  from  beginning  to  end,  and  that  can  only 
be  ascertained  and  realised  not  by  argument  and  by  the  bandying 
of  words  that  come  into  sharp  collision  one  with  another,  but  by 
deep  spiritual  experience.  There  are  many  roads  to  the  same  end, 
there  are  many  ways  winding  up  to  the  mountain  top — let  each 
man  see  that  he  is  on  the  way  he  can  travel  best,  and  make  the 
most  of,  and  get  along  the  quickest,  and  then  at  the  top  you  will 
see  men  coming  up  from  all  sides  of  the  mountain,  and  at  the  top 
forming  themselves  into  one  unanimous,  harmonious,  grateful 
assembly,  with  one  song  and  one  acclaim  to  him  who  made  the 
mountain  and  all  the  ways  which  lead  to  its  sunny  and  salubrious 
summit.  Do  let  us  understand  that  there  is  unity  in  variety  and 
variety  in  unity,  and  that  the  simple  light  is  most  complex. 

How  does  the  gospel  then  present  itself  to  your  mind — as  a 
wedding  feast  ?  Be  ready  for  the  Bridegroom  when  he  comes. 
The  only  fact  that  you  are  entrusted  with  is  the  fact  that  he  is 
coming  :  when  he  will  come  no  man  can  foretell.  And  does  the 
gospel  strike  some  other  of  you  as  a  stewardship,  is  life  a  great 
responsibility  to  you,  is  your  daily  question  how  to  make  the  most 
of  life  ?  Here  is  a  parable  which  exactly  represents  your  style  of 
thinking  and  your  plan  and  purpose  of  activity.  What  think  ye 
of  this  parable  ?  The  Lord  searches  into  the  conduct  of  his 
stewards,  he  wants  to  know  what  every  man  has  been  doing,  he 
allows  every  man  quietly  to  make  his  own  speech,  he  does  not 
read  off  the  conduct  of  men  as  if  he  were  reading  a  book  ;  he 
simply  allows  every  man  to  tell  his  own  tale.  "  Which  tale  shall 
I  tell  ?"  should  be  every  man's  urgent  and  daily  question.  Am 
I  working  hard,  am  I  endeavouring  to  double  my  talents,  am  I 
making  a  good  use  of  my  opportunities — or  am  I  taking  life 
upon  a  narrow  and  selfish  basis,  do  1  suppose  that  to  do  nothing 
and  to  know  nothing  will  lead  at  last  to  some  kind  of  intermediate 
heaven  ?     That  sophism  is  broken  with  the  lightning  of  God  :  it 


UNCONSCIOUS  SERVICE.  191 

cannot  be  tolerated  in  the  sanctuary  :  the  know-nothing,  the  do- 
nothing,  and  the  be-nothing  scheme  of  life  can  only  end  in  outer 
darkness  and  in  ineffable  distress. 

It  is  right  that  it  should  be  so.  Who  could  live  in  any  spirit  of 
honesty  and  hopefulness,  if  he  knew  that  in  the  outcome  of  all 
things  it  would  be  the  same  whether  he  had  slept  all  the  time  or 
worked  all  the  time,  whether  he  had  been  economical  of  all  oppor- 
tunities, and  thrifty,  or  whether  he  had  been  selfish,  negligent, 
slothful,  doing  nothing  to  make  the  world  better  and  brighter  than 
it  was  when  he  came  into  it  ?  We  are  moved  to  some  grand  in- 
spirations which  we  may  not  confess  in  theory.  Every  man  has  a 
theology  by  which  his  life  is  being  moved,  whether  he  can  put 
that  theology  into  a  form  of  words  or  not.  Analyse  your  con- 
duct, that  at  the  very  base  and  core  of  it  you  may  have  certain 
grand  moral  or  theological  aspirations,  without  which  you  can 
neither  have  hope  nor  rest. 

And  is  it  so  that  at  the  last  the  Gentiles  will  be  judged  by  the 
bread  they  have  given  and  the  water  they  have  withheld  ? 
Observe,  we  read  that  the  nations  were  gathered  together  before 
the  Son  of  man.  That  expression  is  never  used  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  except  with  strict  limitation  to  Gentile  or  heathen  peo- 
ple— it  is  never  used  as  including  the  whole  human  family.  But 
let  us  take  it  that  it  is  just  as  it  stands  here,  and  the  evangelical 
argument  remains  unimpaired,  untouched.  The  righteous  did 
not  know  that  they  had  been  doing  all  this,  therefore  it  was  not 
done  for  the  purpose  of  securing  some  happy  end  ;  the  righteous 
had  wholly  forgotten  the  beneficent  activities  which  were  attributed 
to  them,  therefore  they  had  not  been  mere  legalists  trying  to  obey 
the  letter  of  a  law,  and  endeavouring  to  set  up,  by  penance  or 
gift,  some  claim  to  the  ultimate  mercy  and  clemency  of  heaven. 
They  had  been  simply  breathing  a  spirit,  embodying  an  aspiration, 
setting  out  in  beautiful  daily  life  that  which  was  internal  and  vital 
and  part  of  their  very  nature,  and  had  become  such  by  ministries  we 
call  divine  and  spiritual.  The  others  had  no  such  spirit,  they  did 
not  take  life  other  than  as  a  daily  task,  a  daily  burden,  something 
to  be  got  through.  If  they  had  been  told  that  by  giving  a  certain 
portion  of  meat  to  the  poor  every  day,  they  could  have  had  one 
heaven,  why  nothing  could  have  been  easier  to  them,  but  that 
which  appears  to  be  so  very  easy,  may  sometimes  be  found  to  be 


192  MATTHEW  XXV. 

supremely  difficult.  The  easiest  things  cannot  be  done  with  a 
slack  hand  :  there  is  an  ease  which  is  the  last  passion  in  a  very 
severe  process.  We  know  what  this  is  in  reading,  writing,  learn- 
ing, business  of  all  kinds,  inquiry,  navigation,  poetry,  eloquence 
— everywhere  there  is  a  facility  which  seems  as  if  it  cost  the  doer 
or  the  speaker  nothing,  whereas  it  expresses  the  last  point  of  long 
and  complete  culture.  Do  not  imagine,  therefore,  that  life  is  a 
mere  question  of  giving  and  taking,  without  thought,  and  without 
idea,  and  without  purpose  :  you  cannot  be  mechanically  pious 
with  any  given  issue,  or  with  any  hope  of  heaven.  Piety  is  not  a 
question  of  mechanics  or  arrangement,  of  doing  this  and  not  doing 
the  other  :  piety  is  not  a  question  of  abstaining  from  this  and  par- 
taking of  the  other — it  is  a  spirit,  a  life,  an  invisible  but  supreme 
sovereignty  of  the  soul,  and  he  who  enjoys  the  consciousness  of 
that  sovereignty  does  good  and  blushes  to  find  it  fame.  He  has 
no  idea  that  all  this  is  coming  back  to  him  in  certain  forms  ;  if  he 
had,  he  would  be  a  mere  speculator  and  investor,  a  trickster  in 
good  doing,  and  that  is  a  contradiction  in  terms — our  good  doing 
must  be  our  breathing,  it  must  be  the  habit  and  spirit  of  our  life, 
and  to  be  this,  it  must  originate  in  the  cross,  take  its  inspiration 
from  the  cross,  return  for  recreating  and  renewal  day  by  day  to 
the  cross  ;  and  doing  so  according  to  your  nature  and  opportunity, 
you  will  find  that  all  the  parables  speak  the  same  thing,  and  that 
amid  the  infinite  diversity  of  imaginative  expression,  there  is  the 
same  central,  substantial,  eternal  truth. 

And  then  the  end  :  the  eternal  life,  the  eternal  punishment,  I 
cannot  describe  either  the  one  or  the  other  :  they  are  both  away 
from  me  ;  but  this  I  know  and  can  say,  that  the  reward  of  good 
being  and  good  doing  is  infinite,  but  the  penalty  of  wickedness, 
be  it  what  it  may,  is  beyond  the  power  of  human  language  to 
express.  I  leave  these  definitions  to  be  revealed  by  the  event. 
No  earnest  man  can  trifle  with  words  for  the  sake  of  ascertaining 
how  far  he  may  do  evil  and  escape  punishment.  Punishment  for 
sin  is  eternal  upon  earth  :  no  man  can  outlive  his  sin  in  time — for 
ten  or  twenty  years  it  appears  to  be  forgotten,  you  have  entered 
into  new  circumstances,  surrounded  yourself  with  new  conditions, 
and  are  beginning  to  be  glad.  But  yesternight  in  walking  out, 
you  saw  a  face  which  you  supposed  to  be  dead,  and  instantly  the 
brightness  was  taken  out  of  your  life-scene,  and  the  rocks  under 


GOD'S   FORGIVENESS.  193 


your  feet  began  to  shake,  and  the  sin  stood  up  before  you  as 
young  as  ever  with  an  eye  undimmed,  and  pierced  you  as  with 
lightning. 

Sin  carries  eternal  consequences  with  it.  There  is  only  one  hope 
then  for  you.  What  is  that  ?  Forgiveness.  Thank  God  for 
that  sweet,  great  word.  We  may  be  forgiven.  The  little  critic 
will  still  attempt  to  run  after  the  consequences,  and  will  busy  him- 
self with  the  details  of  the  question,  but  God  is  ready  to  forgive, 
and  then  you  stand  up  and  say,  with  all  your  sins  round  about 
you,  present  to  your  memory,  with  the  greater  grace  of  God  shin- 
ing upon  you,  "  I  was  a  bad  man,  I  did  what  I  ought  not  to  have 
done  ;  I  have  confessed  this  to  God,  not  in  words  only,  but  with 
all  the  emotion  and  passion  of  a  penitent  soul,  and  God,  for 
Christ's  sake,  has  forgiven  me." 

O  that  we  may  know  the  mystery  and  the  joy  of  forgiveness  as 
we  have  known  the  pain  and  the  shame  of  guilt. 


LXXXVI. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  know  thee  by  our  love  :  our  hearts  go  out  after 
thee  in  a  great  search,  and  come  back  with  all  thy  grace  glowing  the  soul 
and  making  the  life  new.  We  do  not  know  thee  by  the  mind,  we  cannot 
lay  hold  of  thee  by  the  senses,  thou  dost  come  secretly  into  the  heart  and 
speak  to  our  meekness  and  love  and  modesty  and  waiting  patience. 
Thou  hast  revealed  thyself  unto  us  in  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  man,  Son  of 
God,  to  us  God  the  Son,  bringing  every  secret  of  thy  love  to  bear  upon 
the  necessity  of  our  life,  and  redeeming  us  not  with  silver  and  gold,  but 
with  the  precious  blood  of  his  own  heart.  We  do  not  understand  it,  yet 
do  we  know  it  well  :  it  is  made  plain  to  us  by  the  agony  of  our  heart  : 
we  see  thy  wonders  through  our  tears,  we  hear  thee  best  in  the  time  of 
the  silence  of  the  night,  thou  dost  shine  upon  us  when  all  other  lights  are 
withdrawn.  We  feel  after  God,  the  heart  goes  out  after  thee  in  mute 
necessity,  and  yet  in  assurance  that  thou  canst  and  will  be  found.  This 
we  know  :  we  have  tested  it,  and  thou  hast  made  us  living  witnesses  of 
thy  presence  in  our  heart  and  life. 

We  were  as  sheep  going  astray,  but  now  we  have  returned  to  the  Shep- 
herd and  Bishop  of  our  souls  ;  we  had  endeavoured  to  find  for  ourselves 
water  in  the  wilderness,  and  behold  we  found  none.  We  said  we  would 
smite  the  rocks  and  out  of  them  would  flow  rivers  of  water  ;  we  smote 
the  rocks  and  there  was  no  answering  stream.  We  have  tried  the  world 
and  found  it  a  great  emptiness,  we  have  seized  eagerly  every  offered  cup 
and  found  in  it  nothing  but  death— but  we  have  come  to  Christ  :  he  is 
bread  and  water,  he  is  the  soul's  one  satisfaction,  we  rest  in  him,  we  find 
in  him  the  centre  of  our  security  and  the  assurance  of  our  peace  as  we 
find  in  him  the  peace  that  is  everlasting  and  the  completion  of  our  broken 
nature.  He  is  our  Saviour,  and  we  call  him  such  :  thy  Son  and  yet  not 
ashamed  to  call  us  brethren,  and  we  have  fellowship  with  his  heart,  union 
with  the  inner  spirit  of  his  tenderest  love,  and  because  of  this  sympa- 
thetic intercourse  we  are  lifted  up  into  a  new  nature  and  intrusted  with 
an  infinite  liberty  and  joy. 

Thou  dost  come  to  us  in  occasional  hours,  thou  dost  take  us  up  into  a 
mountain  and  transfigure  us,  thou  dost  even  lift  us  above  the  mountain 
and  hide  us  in  the  luminous  clouds,  and  there  we  hear  sweet  voices, 
grand  with  the  music  of  old  time,  tremulous  with  answers  to  the  present 
necessity.     Send  us  down  again  from  high  raptures  to  willing  service,  to 


THE   TEXT.  195 

patient  endurance,  to  waiting  upon  the  helpless  and  the  sick  and  comfort- 
ing  those  that  are  ill  at  ease. 

We  commend  one  another  with  all  confidence  to  thy  tender  care. 
Some  need  thee  more  than  others,  or  so  they  say,  and  feel  it,  because  of 
the  urgency  of  the  immediate  pain  :  yet  we  all  need  thee  equally,  did  we 
but  know  the  case  as  it  really  is  :  not  one  can  breathe  without  thee,  we 
lift  our  hand  because  of  thine  almightiness,  and  we  sit  down  and  rest 
because  of  thy  peace.  Yet  where  there  is  consciousness  of  immediate 
need,  a  great  crying  pain  in  the  heart,  that  importunes  the  Heavens  and 
would  seize  the  kingdom  by  violence,  let  thine  answer  be  such  as  shall 
give  special  comfort  to  special  distress. 

Enable  us  to  live  our  few  days  with  all  the  simplicity  of  faith,  with  all 
the  trust  of  immortal  hope,  and  with  all  the  delight  of  men  who  are  as- 
sured that  ihe  very  hairs  of  their  head  are  all  numbered  and  the  time  of 
their  life  is  kept  in  Heaven.  Is  there  not  an  appointed  time  to  men  upon 
the  earth  ?  Can  our  grave  be  dug  before  the  hour  which  is  written  in 
Heaven  ?  Is  not  every  man  immortal  until  his  work  is  done  ?  Give  us 
this  confidence,  then  shall  we  not  be  startled  by  accidents,  and  that  which 
is  a  tragedy  to  the  vain  and  the  unprepared,  will  become  the  common- 
place in  the  infinite  movement  of  thy  beneficent  providence.  Yet  thou 
dost  send  upon  us  events  with  suddenness  that  break  us  down.  If  the 
blow  be  sudden,  let  the  grace  be  an  equal  surprise  :  where  the  shock  is 
startling  and  distressful,  let  the  healing  follow  immediately  and  be  the 
greater  miracle. 

Thou  knowest  who  are  in  sorrow  and  great  pain  and  who  are  made 
cold  by  bereavement  and  poor  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  choice  life  in 
whose  smile  the  lesser  lives  all  lay.  O  comfort  those  that  mourn,  and 
make  our  sorrows  the  roots  of  our  joys.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxvi.  1-5. 

1.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  finished  all  these  sayings,  he 
said  unto  his  disciples, 

2.  Ye  know  that  after  two  days  is  the  feast  of  the  passover,  and  the 
Son  of  man  is  betrayed  to  be  crucified. 

3.  Then  assembled  together  the  chief  priests,  and  the  scribes,  and  the 
elders  of  the  people,  unto  the  palace  of  the  high  priest,  who  was  called 
Caiaphas, 

4.  And  consulted  that  they  might  take  Jesus  by  subtilty,  and  kill  him. 

5.  But  they  said,  Not  on  the  feast  day,  lest  there  be  an  uproar  among 
the  people. 


196  MATTHEW  XXVI.  1-5. 


COMPLETENESS   OF  DIVINE  TEACHING. 

WHEN  Jesus  had  finished  all  these  sayings."  Why  not 
before  ?  Why  not  have  broken  off  the  eloquent  dis- 
course midway,  so  that  its  latter  music  might  never  have  been 
heard  by  the  ages — why  not  ?  Consider  that  question  soberly  and 
profoundly,  and  tell  me,  is  there  not  an  appointed  time  to  man 
upon  the  earth,  and  can  any  great  speech  be  interrupted  until  so 
much  of  it  has  been  delivered  as  the  ever  watching  and  ever  be- 
neficent God  deems  to  be  enough  ?  He  punctuates  our  speeches  : 
if  it  is  better  that  they  should  be  broken  off  at  an  intermediate 
stop,  so  be  it  :  if  it  is  better  that  they  should  go  on  to  a  full  period 
and  be  sphered  and  rounded  in  logical  and  rhetorical  complete- 
ness, so  let  it  be.  Do  not  live  the  fool's  life  and  suppose  that  any 
man  can  kill  you  when  he  pleases.  The  very  hairs  of  your  head 
are  all  numbered  :  not  a  sparrow  falleth  to  the  ground  without 
your  Father.  Fear  not,  little  flock,  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleas- 
ure to  give  you  the  kingdom,  is  a  sweet  and  gracious  promise, 
which  has  its  detailed  application  to  every  honest  man  and  every 
faithful  worker. 

Jesus  Christ  brings  into  his  history  this  word  finished  more  than 
once.  In  this  instance  he  had  finished  the  Sayings.  When  he 
offered  his  great  priestly  prayer,  he  said,  "  I  have  finished  the 
work  thou  didst  give  me  to  do."  When  he  bowed  his  sacred 
head  upon  the  cross  in  the  last  intolerable  agony,  he  said,  "  It  is 
finished."  Does  he  leave  anything  in  an  incomplete  state  ?  Has 
he  left  any  star  half-moulded,  any  planet  without  the  last  touch 
given  to  its  infinite  circumference  ?  He  works  well.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  he  which  hath  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  con- 
tinue it  until  the  day  of  redemption  and  completion.  If  we  had 
begun,  we  might  never  have  finished,  but  he  who  began  the  work 
is  pledged  to  complete  it,  and  the  top  stone  shall  be  brought  on 
with  shoutings  of  "  Grace — grace"  unto  it.  Build  with  such 
stones  as  you  are  able  to  lift  :  do  your  little  masonry  as  faithfully, 
as  lovingly  as  you  can,  but  he  that  buildeth  all  things  is  God. 

Here  the  office  of  the  Teacher  ceases,  and  here  the  office  of  the 
Priest  is  about  to  begin.     Correctly  and  deeply  interpreted,   the 


CHRIST'S   FINAL    WORDS.  197 

Teacher  was  the  Priest,  and  the  life  was  the  death  ;  and  the  doc- 
trine was  the  atonement  as  well  as  the  death.  But  for  the  sake  of 
convenience,  we  divide  the  functions  into  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King.  The  Prophet  has  closed  ;  the  great  solemn  peroration, 
broad  as  thunder,  has  ceased  ;  he  has  just  said,  "  These  shall  go 
away  into  everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eter- 
nal. ' '  That  was  his  last  word,  according  to  the  history  which  is 
before  us,  and  when  he  had  spoken  of  life  eternal,  his  lips  closed. 
There  was  nothing  more  to  be  said  of  a  doctrinal  kind — the  priestly 
function  was  to  succeed  the  prophetical.  What  an  air  of  repose 
there  is  about  the  statement.  It  reads  like  a  great  plan  :  there  is 
nothing  hurried,  nothing  tumultuous — the  uproar  is  on  the  out- 
side ;  within,  and  specially  in  the  central  Man,  there  is  ineffable 
peace.  He  speaks  as  one  who  came  to  his  work  from  the  sanc- 
tuary of  eternity  :  there  is  no  flush  upon  his  face  that  betokens 
surprise,  the  surprise  was  in  others,  to  him  life  was  a  calm,  grand 
revelation. 

How  appropriate  the  last  speech  :  from  an  artistic  point  of  view 
the  completeness  is  simply  marvellous.  There  could  be  nothing 
to  say  after  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Matthew.  We  often  feel 
ourselves  that  after  certain  men  have  spoken  for  any  other  voice  to 
attempt  to  make  Hself  heard  would  be  an  anti-climax  of  an  intol- 
erable kind.  We  know  when  the  wisest  man  of  the  assembly  has 
spoken  ;  he  has  reserved  his  judgment  until  other  speeches  have 
been  made,  and  when  he  sits  down,  no  other  man  could,  with 
any  regard  to  the  fitness  of  things,  presume  to  rise.  What  could 
have  been  said  after  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  ?  The  Son  of  man 
has  come  in  his  glory  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,  and  he 
has  sat  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory  and  conducted  the  arbitra- 
ment of  the  nations,  and  these  have  gone  away  to  everlasting  pun- 
ishment and  the  righteous  into  life  eternal.  After  thai,  the  only 
possible  eloquence  is — the  CROSS  ! 

Let  us  hear  his  final  words  before  the  great  tragedy.  Said  he, 
in  verse  2,  "Ye  know  that  after  two  days  is  the  feast  of  the  pass- 
over,  and  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed  to  be  crucified. ' '  He  never 
made  a  more  characteristic  speech.  Here  you  have  the  very  heart 
of  the  man  talking.  Look  at  that  word  "  betrayed,'"  and  find  the 
whole  soul  and  purpose  of  Christ.  To  be  betrayed  was  the  agony 
— to  be  crucified  was  nothing  to  the  man  who  would  take  such  a 


MATTHEW  XXVI.  1-5. 


view  of  betrayal.  It  was  the  sin  he  looked  at,  not  the  butchery. 
That  such  truth  could  be  met  by  such  falsehood  killed  him.  We 
look  at  the  outward  and  vulgar  aspect  of  things,  we  cry  around 
the  cross  of  wood  as  we  see  the  sacred  blood  trickling  down  the 
beam.  'Tis  childish.  When  we  are  older  and  wiser  we  will  cry- 
over  the  betrayal.  It  is  one  of  the  impossibilities  of  ordinary  his- 
tory :  it  would  be  a  total,  absolute,  incredible  impossiblity,  if  it 
did  not  take  place  in  our  own  heart  and  in  our  own  house  day  by 
day.  That  such  purity,  such  truthfulness,  such  beneficence, 
should  have  made  no  deeper  impression  than  this,  killed  the  Son 
of  God  !  The  atonement  was  offered  in  Gethsemane,  when  he 
sweat,  as  it  were,  great  drops  of  blood  and  said,  "  Nevertheless, 
not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done."  Then  he  redeemed  the  world. 
The  rest  was  commonplace,  the  killing,  the  slaughter,  the  mean 
revenge,  the  triumph  of  hypocrisy  and  priestism. 

All  the  great  work  in  life  is  done  in  solitude,  with  the  loved  ones 
a  few  paces  behind,  with  the  dearest  out  of  sight,  with  no  one 
there  but  the  soul  and  God.  Win  your  battle  there,  and  other 
fighting  becomes  quite  easy,  and  if  you  seem  to  fail  in  the  other 
fighting,  it  is  only  as  a  seed  fails  that  dies  in  the  earth  to  repeat 
itself  in  manifold  productiveness  and  utility. 

Jesus  Christ  always  took  the  spiritual  view  of  an  action.  He 
did  not  ask  to  be  spared  the  nailing,  he  took  meekly  the  spitting, 
for  it  went  no  deeper  than  the  cheek — but  to  be  betrayed  was  more 
than  he  could  bear.  To  be  smitten  on  the/ace,  what  was  it  but 
to  endure  for  a  moment  the  ruffianism  of  the  basest  men  of  his 
day  ? — but  to  be  betrayed — that  was  the  mortal  agony,  and  if  we 
took  a  right  view  of  life,  we  should  see  it  precisely  as  Jesus  Christ 
did — not  the  robbery  but  the  plot  to  rob,  not  the  blow  upon  the 
face  but  the  wound  upon  the  heart,  not  the  crime  but  the  sin, 
would  impress  us  most  deeply  and  pain  us  most  cruelly. 

Jesus  Christ  will,  in  the  judgment,  take  the  spiritual  view  of 
every  action.  He  is  consistent  with  himself  :  he  has  not  two 
standards  or  methods  of  judgment.  What  we  would  have  done  if 
we  could  will  form  our  character  at  the  last.  We  speak  emptily 
and  superficially  about  deeds  and  actions  and  conduct — we  do 
not  see  the  real  deed.  Not  what  my  hand  accomplishes,  but  what 
my  heart  would  effect,  is  my  character.     Thank  God  for  that.      It 


SPIRITUAL    CRITICISM.  199 

may  tell  against  us  in  this  or  that  instance,  but  it  may  also  tell  for 
us  in  the  supreme  totalising  and  adjudication  of  life.  God  knows 
what  it  is  in  our  heart  to  be,  and  what  we  can  honestly  say  in  our 
heart  is  what  we  really  are.  Not  our  outbursts  of  temper,  not  our 
occasional  displays  of  lowness  of  disposition,  but  the  supreme 
desire  and  passion  of  the  heart  will  form  God's  basis  of  judgment. 
If  we  can  say  at  the  last,  as  many  a  poor  misunderstood  man  can 
say  now — but  the  church  will  not  believe  him — God  is  better  and 
greater  than  the  church — "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things,  thou 
knowest  that  I  love  thee'' — that  love  will  burn  up  all  the  sin,  and 
they  shall'  come  from  the  east  and  from  the  west  and  from  the 
north  and  from  the  south,  and  from  all  quarters,  sections, 
churches,  and  provinces  of  human  geography  and  human  thinking 
and  human  feeling,  and  the  great  surprise  will  be  that  Heaven  is 
so  vast. 

"They  consulted  that  they  might  take  Jesus  by  subtlety." 
Subtlety — that  was  their  condemnation.  Honest  men  know 
nothing  about  subtlety,  honest  men  are  fearless,  honest  men  rely 
upon  the  instincts  of  the  people,  honest  men  never  fear  the  in- 
sincts  of  a  great  nation.  See  how  sin  debases  everything  :  it  turns 
a  grand  magisterial  function  into  a  machine  for  the  performance  of 
little  party  tricks.  Sin  blights  whatever  it  touches  :  if  it  looks  at 
a  flower,  the  flower  dies  :  if  it  goes  through  a  garden  it  leaves  a 
wilderness  behind  it.  It  is  a  most  damnable  thing.  See  the  San- 
hedrim, the  great  council  of  the  nation,  that  ought  to  be  its  pride 
and  ornament  and  crown,  and  that  ought  to  speak  with  a  voice- 
that  would  commend  itself  in  every  tone  to  the  conscience  and 
reason  and  inner  heart  of  the  people,  conniving,  arranging,  tem- 
porising, trick-making — and  that  is  the  work  of  the  fear  which  comes 
of  conscious  wrong.  Fearlessness  goes  out  by  the  front  door, 
honesty  speaks  aloud  in  a  plain  mother  tongue  that  every  man 
can  understand.  Honesty  may  seem  to  be  inconsistent  here  and 
there  and  again,  but  the  inconsistency  is  apparent  only  and  not 
real.  Honesty  can  bear  to  be  searched  into,  for  all  the  parts  be- 
long to  one  another,  and  they  come  together  and  form  a  sym- 
metrical and  indissoluble  completeness.  Your  trick  is  your  con- 
demnation, your  subtlety  is  mere  clevernes's,  it  is  not  philosophy. 

But  they  said,  "  Not  on  the  feast  day."  That  is  an  excellent 
resolution,  not  to  take  Jesus  and  kill  him,  and  if  the  punctuation 


MATTHEW  XXVI.  1-5. 


had  been  complete  there,  we  would  have  said,  ' '  They  have  come 
to  their  better  mind  ;"  forgive  them,  they  are  going  to  abstain  from 
their  purposed  slaughter,  but  instead  of  having  a  full  stop  after 

day, ' '  we  read,  ' '  iest  there  be  an  uproar  among  the  people. ' ' 
A  bad  excuse,  but  any  excuse  will  do  for  persons  who  are  bent  on 
villainy.  We  are  quick  at  excuse-making,  we  have  the  genius  of 
wriggling  out  of  righteous  positions  and  evading  sacred  duty. 
Our  reasons  often  come  afterwards,  and  our  excuse  is  but  a  post 
hoc — it  never  would  have  occurred  to  us,  if  we  had  not  found  our- 
selves in  danger  of  being  ensnared  and  trapped  and  killed  with 
weapons  we  had  made  for  the  slaughter  of  others.  Our  excuses 
may  ruin  us  :  our  little  pleas  may  become  the  sharp  weapons  that 
Mali  penetrate  our  misspent  life.  One  man  thought  he  had  an 
excuse  which  would  make  even  the  great  man  dumb  ;  he  said, 
"  I  knew  thee,  that  thou  wert  an  hard  man,  reaping  where  thou 
hadst  not  sown,  and  gathering  where  thou  hadst  not  strawed,  so  I 
took  thy  talent,  wrapped  it  in  a  napkin,  hid  it  in  the  earth — there 
it  is."  And  the  great  man  said,  "Thou  knewest  that  I  was  a 
hard  man  ?  Thou  knewest  P  Thou  oughtest,  therefore  .  .  . " 
An  unexpected  logic,  a  turn  in  the  argument  which  became 
intolerable  as  fire.  No  excuse  can  stand  the  examination  of 
God. 

What  will  Jesus  Christ  now  do  with  the  case  so  vividly  and 
completely  before  him  ?  He  will  turn  away  from  the  great  feast  of 
the  Jews  ?  No — he  will  keep  the  feast,  though  he  must  die. 
That  is  the  Teacher  the  world  wanted,  that  was  the  kind  of  heroism 
of  a  moral  type  which  alone  could  act  upon  the  world  like  salt,  to 
save  it  from  putridity.  He  will  go  to  church,  though  he  will  be 
killed  under  its  sacred  roof ;  he  will  keep  the  great  historic  feast 
of  Israel,  though  the  price  he  must  pay  for  admission  is  the  price 
of  his  life.  But  in  doing  that,  he  will  give  the  feast  its  highest 
meaning.  Up  to  this  time  the  feast  of  passover  has  been  but  an 
historical  memorial  in  Israel,  getting  farther  and  farther  away  from 
the  first  incident,  and  losing,  by  mere  lapse  of  time,  much  of  its 
first  freshness.  But  Jesus  makes  all  things  neiu.  He  goes  to  that 
last  service,  and  lifts  it  up  to  its  spiritual  significance.  May  he 
come  to  every  service  of  ours  and  make  our  homes  and  prayers 
and  Scripture  readings  and  expositions  new.  That  is  all  we  want 
— larger  definition,  more  fearless  application  of  what  we  do  know  ; 


THE   UPLIFTED  FEAST.  201 

enlargement,  not  destruction,  spiritual  interpretation,  not  mechan- 
ical re-arrangement. 

Not  a  word  will  Christ  say  against  the  feast :  he  will  keep  it,  he 
will  be  a.  Jew,  but  in  keeping  the  feast,  he  will  give  it  its  last  deep 
and  continual  signification.  Such  a  preacher  do  we  always  want 
in  the  church  :  not  a  man  who  will  lay  down  the  old  hymn-book 
and  say,  "We  have  had  enough  of  that,"  but  will  so  sing  the 
hymn  as  to  make  us  feel  we  never  heard  it  before.  Not  a  man 
who  will  shut  up  the  Bible  and  make  a  new  one  on  his  own  ac- 
count, but  will  so  read  the  old  Hebrew  and  Greek  and  the  present 
English  as  to  make  our  blood  tingle  as  he  reads.  Not  a  man  who 
will  take  down  the  grand  evangelical  system  of  teaching  and  doc- 
trine, but  will  redeem  its  noblest  terms  from  sectarian  uses  and  lift 
up  into  a  firmament  what  has  been  fastened  upon  a  ceiling.  We 
need  no  new  doctrine,  but  we  do  need  some  new  definitions  and 
larger  applications  and  nobler  sympathies  and  more  comprehensive 
charities. 

In  going  to  the  feast  and  acting  so,  Jesus  Christ  showed  the 
possibility  of  the  ir religiousness  0/ some  religion.  That  is  the  great 
hindrance  to  Christian  progress — unchristian  Christianity,  a  Chris- 
tian doctrine  without  a  Christian  practice.  Who  is  a  Christian  ? 
Christianity  is  a  question  of  the  spirit,  the  heart,  the  inner  life — 
not  a  question  of  mere  propositions  and  theologies  and  meta- 
physics and  mechanical  arrangements  of  an  ecclesiastical  kind.  If 
any  man  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  his,  and  if 
any  man  have  the  spirit  of  Christ.  I  care  not  in  what  language  he 
may  express  himself — most  uncouth  and  not  at  all  orthodox  from 
my  standpoint — he  is  a  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  Christianity  is  pureness,  meekness,  gentleness, 
sympathy  with  right,  trust  in  God,  charity,  forgiveness — against 
such  there  is  no  valid  accusation. 

The  chief  priests,  the  scribes,  and  the  elders,  were  religious 
after  an  irreligious  kind.  The  light  that  was  in  them  was  dark- 
ness, therefore  the  darkness  was  great.  They  mumbled  the  right 
words,  but  they  did  not  live  the  right  life  or  develop  the  right 
spirit.  If  you  are  selfish,  haughty,  resentful,  proud,  so  sensitive 
that  no  man  can  speak  to  you  about  the  affairs  which  belong  to 
your  life  without  your  taking  immediate  offence,  are  you  a  Chris- 
tian ?     There  is  not  one  element  of  Christianity  in  you,  though 


202  MATTHEW  XXVI.  1-5. 

you  could  repeat  every  catechism  and  defend  with  infinite  clever- 
ness every  proposition  made  by  the  corruptest  church  in  Christen- 
dom. But  if  you  are  gentle,  pure,  kind,  unselfish,  noble,  forgiving 
for  Christ's  sake  and  because  he  is  in  you,  you  are  God's  witnesses 
to  the  power  of  the  cross.  When  the  Psalmist  prayed  for  the 
destruction  of  his  enemies  he  was  irreligiously  religious.  It  was 
religion  gone  sour,  the  wine  of  piety  turned  into  the  vinegar  of  re- 
sentment— it  showed  what  men  would  be  even  in  their  religious- 
ness, when  left  to  themselves.  The  highest  justice  is  mercy,  the 
completest  righteousness  is  gentleness,  meekness,  trust  in  God. 


LXXXVIL 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thine  is  a  holy  mountain,  and  the  place  whereon  thou 
standest  is  holy  ground.  May  we  approach  thee  in  a  spirit  of  humility 
and  great  expectation,  inspired  by  the  hope  which  thou  thyself  hast  justi- 
fied, that  if  we  come  to  thee  in  the  right  way,  with  the  right  prayer,  thou 
wilt  grant  unto  us  gracious  replies.  We  come  by  the  way  of  the  Cross, 
we  come  by  the  way  of  Calvary — we  know  no  other  road  ;  it  is  strait, 
and  yet  it  is  broad  :  we  renounce  ourselves  and  accept  the  Saviour,  we 
put  away  our  own  ability,  which  is  utter  weakness,  and  run  with  eager 
delight  and  thankfulness  to  the  almighty  strength  of  Christ. 

We  come  with  our  accustomed  prayer  and  our  accustomed  song,  yet  is 
our  experience  new,  for  thy  mercy  is  always  surprising,  and  thy  com- 
passion a  continual  revelation.  Enlarge  our  prayer,  enlarge  our  praise, 
and  receive,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  in  the  name  of  the  Mediator,  what  we 
now  utter  in  thy  hearing  as  the  supreme  desire  of  our  hearts.  Thou  hast 
done  great  things  for  us,  whereof  we  are  glad,  but  not  glad  with  suffi- 
ciency of  joy,  for  verily  our  gladness  would  have  purified  us,  and  our 
very  joy  would  have  disputed  all  dominions  but  thine  own.  Yet  we  are 
glad  of  thy  tender  grace  and  loving  patience  and  eternal  training  of  our 
wayward  souls — often  to  ourselves  hopeless  and  only  hopeful  to  thine 
infinite  compassion. 

Thou  hast  arranged  our  life,  thou  hast  directed  it  according  to  thy  wis- 
dom :  we  are  here  and  not  there,  because  the  bounds  of  our  habitation 
are  fixed.  We  are  this  and  not  that,  because  the  Lord  hath  so  said. 
The  mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it,  and  he  who  fixed  the  sea  in  its 
basin  hath  also  fixed  the  waters  of  our  life  in  their  small  channels.  We 
think  we  are  free,  and  behold  we  are  bound  :  we  stretch  out  ourselves  as 
if  we  had  stature  and  height  enough,  in  order  to  fill  all  things,  and  behold 
the  firmament  is  still  above  us  :  it  is  the  bound  of  its  height,  and  beyond 
it  we  cannot  move.  Thou  hast  tethered  us  with  invisible  chains,  thou 
hast  fastened  us  down  to  centres,  and  given  us  the  delusion  of  liberty, 
whilst  we  have  been  all  the  while  the  bondsmen  of  thy  wisdom  and  love. 

We  bless  thee  for  this  mode  of  training  us  ;  thou  dost  lure  us  by  won- 
drous love  along  the  widening  way  of  life,  thou  dost  promise  us  that 
which  immediately  appeals  to  our  senses,  and  lo,  thou  dost  train  the 
senses  themselves  to  contemn  the  blessing,  and  look  for  something 
grander  still.  Train  us,  thou  loving  God  ;  make  of  us  what  thou  wilt — 
thy  will  alone  is  good,  ours  is  broken  and  insufficient  to  meet  the  whole 
necessity — strong  only  in  points,  and  strong  only  with  violence  and  not 


204  MATTHEW  XXVI.  6-13. 

with  the  serenity  of  complete  power.  Enable  us  therefore  lovingly  to  fall 
into  the  movement  of  thy  will,  and  to  ask  for  no  other  composure  or  rest 
but  to  be  at  one  with  the  purpose  of  God. 

Thou  dost  make  us  old  day  by  day,  and  subtly  dost  thou  withdraw  our 
strength  from  us,  until  we  know  that  our  weakness  is  complete.  Thou 
dost  not  smite  us  always  with  the  great  blow  of  thy  thunder,  but  thou 
takest  away  our  days  with  invisible  hands  and  with  silent  movement,  and 
we  know  it  not  until  the  sum  which  is  taken  is  larger  than  the  sum  that 
remains.  Others  die  in  their  full  strength,  being  wholly  at  ease  and 
quiet,  but  whether  in  this  way  or  in  that,  thou  wilt  surely  withdraw  us 
from  the  scene  which  we  were  not  consulted  about  entering,  and  thou 
wilt  work  out  thy  purpose  on  the  other  side  as  thou  hast  done  all  along 
without  word  or  will  of  ours.  Oh  that  we  might  rest  in  thy  goodness, 
that  we  might  be  taught  by  the  very  bitterness  of  our  experience,  that  we 
might  see  how  frail  we  are,  and  turn  our  very  frailty  into  a  sign  or  prayer 
for  greater  strength. 

To-day  make  us  glad  in  thine  house  :  fill  every  window  with  light, 
come  in  upon  us  by  every  opening,  and  make  our  whole  heart  glad  with 
great  joy  and  thrilling  rapture,  and  while  the  fire  burns  may  we  speak 
with  our  lips.  Let  the  day  be  made  memorable  because  of  the  large  bap- 
tism of  the  Holy  Ghost  :  let  all  the  people  praise  thee,  O  God,  yea,  let 
all  the  people  praise  thee  ;  thou  who  dost  open  dumb  mouths  and  unloose 
silent  tongues,  come  to  us  and  cause  us  who  have  been  too  long  speech- 
less and  songless  in  this  house,  to  utter  our  prayer  and  our  praise  with  a 
new  and  glad  strength. 

We  pray  for  our  loved  ones  who  are  not  with  us.  The  number  is  in- 
complete, the  vacancy  is  a  lesson  to  our  anxious  hearts — do  thou  go  after 
those  who  have  left  us  for  a  while  :  with  all  Sabbatic  comforts  make  them 
glad,  on  the  high  road,  in  the  wilderness,  on  the  sea — wheresoever  they 
are,  let  the  light  of  thy  Heaven  be  a  Sabbatic  glory.  We  pray  for  the 
sick,  the  weary,  the  sad,  the  dying  ;  for  the  whole  side  and  aspect  of 
humanity,  viewing  which  our  hearts  sink  within  us  in  hopelessness  and 
fear  because  of  our  entire  weakness  and  inability  to  meet  the  urgent  pain. 
Lord,  gather  us  to  thine  heart,  give  us  to  feel  the  presence  of  the  ever- 
lasting arms,  the  arms  that  can  crush  the  universe,  but  will  not  hurt  a 
little  child.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxvi.  6-13. 

6.  Now,  when  Jesus  was  in  Bethany,  in  the  house  of   Simon  the  leper, 

7.  There  came  unto  him  a  woman  having  an  alabaster  box  of  very 
precious  ointment,  and  poured  it  on  his  head,  as  he  sat  at  meat. 

8.  But  when  his  disciples  saw  it,  they  had  indignation,  saying,  To 
what  purpose  is  this  waste  ? 

9.  For  this  ointment  might  have  been  sold  for  much,  and  given  to  the 
poor. 


RAPID  ALTERNATIONS.  205 


10.  When  Jesus  understood  it,  he  said  unto  them,  Why  trouble  ye  the 
woman  ?  for  she  hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon  me. 

11.  For  ye  have  the  poor  always  with  you  ;  but  me  ye  have  not  always. 

12.  For  in  that  she  hath  poured  this  ointment  on  my  body,  she  did  it 
for  my  burial. 

13.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Wheresoever  this  gospel  shall  be  preached 
in  the  whole  world,  there  shall  also  this,  that  this  woman  hath  done,  be 
told  for  a  memorial  of  her. 


NO  WASTE  IN  LOVE. 

IN  this  incident  we  see  Jesus  Christ  indebted  to  others.  It 
seems  to  be  a  humble  position  :  he  is  in  another  man's  house, 
for  he  has  no  house  of  his  own — at  times  he  had  not  where  to  lay 
his  head.  The  writers  of  his  story  are  never  ashamed  to  say  so, 
they  do  not  want  any  adventitious  glory,  they  do  not  care  to  build 
up  a  grand  exterior  :  though  they  claim  great  things  for  their 
Master,  they  never  claimed  a  house  for  him  :  they  always  found 
him  the  guest  of  others.  He  receives  too  the  ointment  from  the 
woman  who  poured  it  upon  his  head.  He  had  no  ointment  of 
his  own.  If  any  such  token  of  love  or  care  was  to  be  bestowed 
upon  him,  it  must  be  not  of  his  own  finding,  it  must  be  the  ex- 
pression of  other  hearts,  and  at  the  expense  of  other  hands. 

The  contrast  between  this  scene  and  others  which  have  passed 
before  us  is  so  vivid  as  to  be  startling.  We  have  seen  him  in  the 
narrative  raising  the  dead,  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  quieting 
the  storm  on  the  sea,  and  now  he  is  indebted  to  another  man  for 
his  dinner,  and  to  a  kind  and  loving  woman  for  bestowing  upon 
him  a  token  of  personal  love  and  regard.  He  touched  the  ex- 
treme poles  —  extremely  poor,  infinitely  rich  :  weaker  than  a 
bruised  reed,  strong  with  the  almightiness  of  God. 

How  singular  the  imagination  which  conceived  such  a  life,  how 
violent  in  its  action,  how  utterly  improbable  in  its  conceptions  : 
how  irrational  to  suppose  that  the  world  would  receive  a  story 
apparently  on  the  very  surface  of  it  so  self-contradictory  and  self- 
stultifying  !  Yet  truth  is  stranger  than  fiction.  All  these  rapid 
alternations  and  self-contradictions  take  place  in  every  deep  and 
great  life.  If  you  do  not  realise  within  you  something  answering 
to  the  same  marvellous  rapidity,  violence,  and  collision,  blame  the 
narrowness  of  your  own  experience  rather  than  doubt  what  may 


206  MATTHEW  XXVI.  6-13. 

appear  miraculous  to  a  hope  that  was  never  a  great  flame  and  to  a 
faith  that  was  more  than  half  mere  reason  and  cold  factual  under- 
standing. 

How  meekly  he  receives  what  is  given  to  him.  He  realises  his 
poverty.  There  is  nothing  of  pretence  about  him  :  he  never 
takes  a  thing  as  if  it  were  not  given.  He  stoops  down  to  bless 
the  giver,  to  name  the  donor,  so  to  enlarge  the  gift  and  the  giving 
that  there  can  be  no  mistake  about  his  own  poverty  in  the 
matter.  With  no  sleight  of  hand  does  he  take  the  offerings  that 
are  presented  :  frankly,  with  all  the  honesty  of  a  true  love,  he  puts 
out  his  hand,  receives  what  is  offered,  kisses  it,  places  it  in  his 
heart,  and  writes  the  donor's  name  in  heaven. 

And  yet  consider  what  it  was  that  he  received.  Let  us  look  a 
little  into  what  was  actually  given  to  him.  What  was  it  in  this 
case  ?  He  sat  at  meat  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  leper  :  he  was 
eating  his  daily  bread,  partaking  of  friendly  hospitality.  What 
else  was  given  to  him  ?  A  box  of  spikenard,  very  precious,  such 
as,  probably,  only  the  comparatively  rich  could  hold  in  their  pos- 
session. These  were  the  things  that  were  given.  They  were  poor 
things,  and  he  was  the  greater  for  accepting  them  in  their  mean- 
ness. Who  ever  gave  him  a  thought  ?  Who  ever  enriched  him 
with  an  idea  ?  Who  ever  startled  him  into  gratitude  by  a  revela- 
tion of  truth  which  had  not  come  within  his  own  horizon  ?  who 
ever  pointed  out  to  him,  as  the  result  of  a  more  powerful  telescope 
than  his  own,  some  planet  in  deeper  plunges  of  the  sky  than  he 
had  ever  penetrated  ?  He  takes  your  bread,  your  ointment,  and 
shelters  himself  under  the  roof  'of  our  house  :  at  that  end  he  is  one 
with  us,  just  as  human  as  we  are  :  tired,  he  asks  to  sit  down  ; 
thirsty,  he  says,  "  Give  me  to  drink  ;"  without  food  hour  by 
hour,  he  is  glad  to  take  a  meal  at  any  man's  table,  though  he  be 
publican  and  sinner,  and  much  murmured  at  and  about  by  those 
who  look  upon  outsides  only.  And  yet,  whilst  he  is  guest,  he  is 
host :  no  man  can  claim  any  table  that  he  sits  at  :  he  fills  the 
place,  he  leaves  more  bread  than  he  began  with,  the  feast  multi- 
plies under  his  look.  He  blesses  the  house,  and  it  is  never  poor 
any  more.  The  last  lingering  ghost  that  hid  itself  in  some  out- 
of-the-way  corner  vanishes,  and  heaven's  cloudless  light  fills  the 
place  as  if  it  had  become  a  chosen  temple. 

These  are  the  things  that  prove  him  to  my  heart  to  be  .   .   . 


LORDSHIP  IN  THOUGHT,  207 

GOD.  Again  and  again  we  have  seen  that  he  is  no  grammatical 
deity,  dependent  for  his  primacy  and  sovereignty  upon  some  cun- 
ning adaptation  of  ancient  verbs  and  irregular  conjugations,  but  a 
regal  God,  a  palpable  deity,  a  friendly  God — so  near  that  I  can 
touch  him  and  speak  to  him,  so  far  that  my  eye  cannot  carry  its 
vision  to  the  infinite  distance.  He  is  all  things  :  he  comes  in  and 
sits  down  to  dinner  like  a  common  carpenter,  his  clothes  very 
coarse  and  mean  and  much  wayworn,  and  his  look  haggard,  and 
his  eyes  dim  with  watching  that  nobody  could  keep  up  with. 
Then  we  call  him  Nazarene  and  peasant,  Galilean  and  strange 
character,  partially  maniac,  evidently  gone  out  of  his  head,  past 
the  thin  veil  which  separates  genius  from  insanity,  and  we  look 
and  wonder  and  are  filled  with  a  piteous  amazement  that  such  a 
Man  should  run  such  a  course  of  wildness.  Whilst  we  are  won- 
dering, he  gives  us  one  look  which  we  can  never  forget,  he  utters  a 
word  as  familiar  as  our  mother's  name,  but  with  such  tonic  force 
as  makes  it  music,  revelation,  light  ! 

So  I  find  him  indebted  to  others,  and  yet  not  indebted,  for  he 
always  gives  the  very  things  which  he  was  receiving.  This  is  the 
way  of  the  Lord  :  we  will  come  to  know  presently,  if  we  keep  long 
companionship,  and  close  heart-intercourse  with  him,  that  we 
ourselves  are  not  our  own.  Simon  the  leper  thought  the  bread  he 
was  giving  belonged  to  himself.  Not  a  crumb  of  it  !  Mary  thought 
she  had  purchased  the  ointment  or  had  otherwise  secured  the 
spikenard,  so  that  she  had  a  right  of  property  in  it.  Only  in  an 
intermediate  sense.  The  ointment  was  Christ's  before  it  was  hers 
— she  only  held  it  for  him.  She  could  not  account  for  what  she 
did.  Inspiration  has  no  explanation  :  it  touches  the  soul  and 
moves  the  hand  like  unsuspected  presences,  and  we  cannot  tell 
how  we  did  it  :  we  only  know  that  the  deed  was  done.  Oh,  cold, 
cold  hearts  are  they  that  can  tell  why  they  do  things  and  set  down 
their  reasons  in  numerical  order,  and  justify  themselves  upon 
affidavits,  and  before  magisterial  benches.  Be  mine  the  life  whose 
reason  is  swallowed  up  in  higher  reason  which  I  have  come  to 
know  by  the  mysterious  name  of  inspiration.  See  him  there  then, 
debtor  yet  no  debtor,  a  receiver  and  yet  a  giver,  receiving  from 
the  hand  only,  but  never  having  the  light  that  burned  in  him  in- 
creased by  a  single  ray  from  any  spark  that  ever  issued  from 
another  brain.     Set  down  in  your  common  day  books  all  that 


208  MATTHEW  XXVI.  6-13. 

was  given  to  him  :  any  coarse  paper  will  do  on  which  to  enter  the 
record,  any  clumsy  pencil  will  do  to  write  the  vulgar  words.  The 
pencil  will  never  be  required  to  write  thought,  idea,  suggestion,  flash 
from  heaven  ;  revelation  from  unexpected  and  unpenetrated  sanc- 
tuaries.    It  is  up  there  that  he  is  Lord  ! 

But  when  his  disciples  saw  it  they  had  indignation,  and  said, 
"  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  ?"  In  John  we  learn  that  it  was 
Judas  Iscariot,  Simon's  son,  that  began  the  objection  and  inquired 
into  this  matter  of  what  was  called  waste.  Said  he,  ' '  Why  was 
not  this  ointment  sold  for  three  hundred  pence  and  given  to  the 
poor?"  The  man  who  said  that  condemned  himself.  He  knew 
the  pence  value  of  the  ointment,  and  any  man  who  knows  the  pence 
value  of  anything  that  takes  place  in  the  church  is  a  bad  man. 
There  is  no  pence  value  to  the  higher  life  :  you  jumble  unrelated 
languages.  The  very  question  is  a  condemnation  :  it  was  not  the 
question  of  an  economist,  it  was  the  inquiry  of  a  thief.  Do  not 
believe  in  schedules  and  tables  and  comparative  statistics  in  the 
church.  Any  man  who  gets  up  tables  and  comparative  statistics 
in  the  church  is  either  a  bad  man  or  a  mistaken  one  :  he  is  always 
a  hinderer  of  true  progress.  There  should  be  no  comparative 
statistics  in  the  church.  What  have  we  to  do  whether  the  pews 
are  full  or  empty,  or  the  treasury  exhausted  or  overflowing  ? 
Nothing.  We  have  to  preach  the  word,  declare  the  testimony, 
read  the  writing,  decipher  the  inscription  on  the  cross  and  on  the 
sky,  whether  men  will  hear  or  whether  they  will  forbear,  and  as  to 
comparing  this  year  with  ten  years  ago,  let  those  do  so  who  live  in 
dust,  but  not  those  who  are  here  for  a  night  and  will  be  gone  to- 
morrow like  the  morning  dew.  Iscariot  cannot  do  anything  in 
the  church,  but  debase  and  injure  it. 

Jesus  Christ  was  often  misunderstood  by  others.  When  indeed 
was  he  ever  understood  ?  Now  and  then  it  seemed  as  if  he  was 
just  going  to  be  understood,  and  then  his  great  heart  rocked  within 
him  and  went  out  after  the  understanding  man  as  one  might  go 
after  a  friend  long  expected  and  at  length  come.  Sometimes  a 
stranger  surprised  him  by  great  faith,  and  he  instantly  went  over 
the  boundary  line  separating  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  took  hold  of 
him,  and  with  all  the  pathos  and  unreserve  of  an  ancient  and  in- 


TRUE  CONCEPTION  OF  POVERTY.  209 

destructible  masonry  shook  him  by  the  hand    and   heart,    and 
claimed  him  by  right  of  affinity. 

It  must  come  to  that  in  the  last  building  of  the  church.  We 
cannot  be  built  upon  words  and  phrases.  In  the  last  issue  the 
church  will  be  a  church  of  affinity,  sympathy,  love,  friendship, 
brotherhood,  a  commonwealth — men  understanding  men  who 
never  saw  one  another  before,  but  by  look  and  touch  and  tone 
and  gesture  feeling  that  brothers  of  a  commonwealth  have  met. 

A  man  is  not  necessarily  a  Christian  because  he  is  a  disciple, 
nor  is  a  man  necessarily  at  one  with  Christ  because  his  name  is 
Judas  Iscariot.  A  bad  disposition  misunderstands  everything.  Do 
not  suppose  that  the  bad  disposition  understands  Christ  alone  ; 
whatever  it  looks  at  it  desecrates.  When  a  bad  man  looks  at  a 
flower,  he  sends  a  chill  to  its  little  heart  :  when  a  Judas  kisses  your 
child,  he  blackens  its  soul.  Do  not  go  to  the  bad  man  for  poetry, 
or  for  high  and  bright  interpretation  of  life  and  nature.  The  bad 
man  cannot  give  you  what  you  seek  for.  Wherever  he  is,  all  the 
holy  spirits  vanish  and  leave  him  in  the  vacancy  of  solitude.  And 
yet  the  bad  man  can  use  nice  words  :  he  talks  about  the  poor. 
The  poor — he  would  sell  his  mother's  bones  to  enrich  himself ! 
The  poor — he  would  tear  the  gas  lamps  from  their  sockets  in  the 
church  and  sell  them,  if  he  could  do  it  secretly,  if  he  could  do  it 
and  not  be  found  out !  Yet  he  talks  about  the  poor,  makes  a 
mouthful  of  the  word,  says  it  unctuously,  as  if  he  cared  for  the 
poor.  He  can  care  for  nothing  that  is  wise,  beautiful,  tender,  and 
truly  necessitous.  The  disease  is  vital,  the  disorder  is  funda- 
mental :  he  is  bad  in  the  inner  fibres,  and  every  look  he  gives  is  a 
blasphemy.  He  comes  into  the  church,  and  he  says,  looking  at 
anything  which  he  may  call  by  the  name  of  ornament,  "  Why 
was  this  waste  made  ?  Why  was  not  this  sold,  and  given  to  the 
poor,  my  clients?"  He  misunderstands  all  beauty,  as  if  the 
beautiful  were  not  a  gift  to  the  poor.  Why,  sometimes  the  poor 
see  more  in  a  picture  than  the  rich  can  see.  To  put  up  a  beautiful 
building  of  any  kind  in  a  town  is  to  give  something  to  the  poor. 

What  are  the  poor  ?  Mere  eaters  and  drinkers,  gormandisers, 
people  gathered  around  a  trough  to  eat  and  drink  ?  Have  they 
not  eyes,  imaginations,  sensibilities,  divinity  of  nature  that  can  be 


210  MATTHEW  XXVI.  6-13. 

touched  by  the  appeals  of  beauty  and  music  and  heroism  and 
nobleness  ?  Simon  the  leper  could  give  a  dinner,  but  he  who 
gives  an  idea  gives  a  continual  feast.  He  who  shows  a  beautiful  pict- 
ure, and  gets  a  man  to  look  right  into  it  and  through  it,  is  actually 
giving  to  the  poor.  We  misunderstand  the  poor  when  we  suppose 
that  they  can  only  eat  and  drink,  and  that  to  give  to  them  means 
to  give  them  something  in  their  hands  or  something  they  can 
gnaw  with  their  teeth.  It  is  a  base  idea,  it  is  a  total  misconception 
of  the  whole  case,  it  must  not  have  any  place  in  Christ's  church. 
Build  the  most  beautiful  churches  you  can  and  you  sustain  labour, 
you  keep  men  at  work  in  an  honest  way  ;  and  fill  the  places  with 
the  poor.  Every  picture  may  be  a  hint,  every  tint  of  beauty  may 
thrill  the  soul  with  a  new  hope,  and  every  sound  of  the  organ  may 
answer  something  already  in  the  soul,  but  silent.  Abolish  all 
narrow  views,  and  do  not  suppose  that  the  poor  are  only  so  many 
machines  for  the  consumption  of  food  and  drink.  Better  to  learn 
in  Christ's  school  than  in  Iscariot's. 

You  cannot  have  any  great  life  without  sentiment.  Life  is  not 
all  cold  logic  ;  the  flowers  are  the  lovelier  for  the  dews  that  tremble 
upon  them,  and  you  look  so  much  younger  and  nobler  when  the 
tears  of  real  pity  are  in  your  eyes — you  are  not  unmanned,  you  are 
more  than  manned.  The  bad  spirit  cannot  understand  lavish 
generosity,  spiritual  suggestiveness,  or  religious  sentiment.  Only 
the  beautiful  soul  can  understand  the  beautiful  act.  ,  Jesus  Christ 
understood  the  woman  and  told  her  what  it  meant,  though  she 
did  not  know  it.  We  do  not  know  the  meaning  of  our  best  acts  : 
I  am  so  afraid  that  we  yield  ourselves  to  those  wooden  teachers 
who  would  always  keep  us  just  between  two  assignable  points, 
who  would  put  down  all  madness — whereas  it  is  by  madness,  mis- 
takenly so  called,  that  the  world  gets  on  an  inch  farther  on  its  slow 
course  now  and  then. 

Jesus  now  becomes  the  Giver.  Making  his  voice  heard  amid 
the  tumult,  he  tells  the  disciples  what  the  woman  has  done.  She 
gave  the  ointment,  he  gave  the  explanation,  and  in  that  explana- 
tion we  have  revelation.  Our  deeds  mean  more  than  we  some- 
times mean  them  to  mean,  says  Christ.  "  This  is  done  in  view  of 
my  burial.''  That  was  a  new  idea  ;  the  woman  did  not  intend  to 
suggest  death  and  burial  when  she  came  with  that  ointment. 
"  Ah  but,"  says  Christ,  "  this  is  like  a  flower  laid  upon  my  dead 


THE  MULTITUDINOUS  POOR. 


breast,  that  is  like  a  finger  gently  pressing  my  dead  eyelids,  this  is 
like  an  odour  of  heaven  rising  from  the  grave  I  shall  presently  oc- 
cupy. ' '  He  gives  our  actions  such  great  meanings — oh,  such  verge, 
margin,  and  amplitude  of  significance  !  he  makes  us  ashamed 
of  our  very  prayers  because  they  are  to  him  so  much  more  than 
they  are  to  us.  He  interprets  them  at  the  other  end,  and  seems  to 
stretch  them  across  the  sky,  whereas  we  did  but  mutter  them  in 
helplessness  and  inarticulate  necessity.  When  Christ  makes  so 
much  of  the  deed,  we  wish  we  had  made  more  of  it  ourselves,  and 
made  it  worthier  his  love. 

Jesus  Christ  thus  befriended  others.  To  receive  graciously  is  to 
benefit  the  giver.  There  is  a  way  of  denying  a  gift  that  hurts  the 
heart  that  suggested  it.  There  is  also  a  way  of  receiving  a  flower 
from  a  little  child  that  makes  the  child  long  for  next  summer  to 
come  around  in  a  great  sudden  hurry  that  it  may  gather  all  the  flow- 
ers in  the  field  for  you.  Jesus  took  the  spikenard,  with  the  infinite 
grace  which  is  one  of  the  charmful  qualities  of  his  nature,  took  it 
as  if  he  had  a  claim  upon  it,  and  yet  as  if  he  had  no  claim  at  all 
but  the  claim  of  poverty  and  need.  ' '  The  poor, ' '  said  he,  "I 
will  give  you  opportunity  enough  for  attending  to  the  poor  :  the 
poor  ye  have  always  with  you,  me  ye  have  not  always. ' '  Seize 
the  fleeting  chance,  do  good  to  the  man  who  is  going  next  :  he 
may  start  before  you  do  the  great  deed.  Have  some  eye  to  the 
reality  of  things,  and  where  there  is  a  man  that  you  can  only  see 
to-day,  for  he  will  be  gone  to-morrow,  do  good  to  him,  and  let 
the  ten  thousand  who  are  not  going  to-morrow  wait  for  their 
natural  opportunity. 

Tender  was  the  speech,  and  extorted  from  him  by  the  woman' s 
tenderness.  ' '  She, ' '  said  he,  ' '  is  right  :  she  knows  and  yet  does 
not  know  that  I  am  going  to  be  buried  soon  :  she  knows  by  a 
feeling,  an  instinct,  a  strange  and  anonymous  impulse  that  some- 
thing is  going  to  happen.  Thank  God  for  those  women-prophets 
amongst  us,  and  men-prophets,  who  cannot  tell  what  is  going  to 
take  place,  but  know  very  well  that  there  is  something  in  the  air, 
and  that  work  along  that  apocalyptic  line. 

There  is  a  good  deal  that  is  modern  in  this  ancient  instance. 
Many  people  care  for  the  poor  mul/itudinously,  they  care  for  a  great 
nameless  quantity  called  the  poor,  they  often  mention  them  over 
their  smoking  soup,    they  sometimes  refer  to   them   with  most 


212  MATTHEW  XXVI.  6-13. 

touching  sympathy  as  they  are  gulping  down  their  last  cham- 
pagne. They  have  a  warm  side  for  the  poor,  understanding  by 
that  term  something  immeasurable  and  far  away.  They  would 
take  the  shadow  into  their  own  houses  if  there  were  less  of  it,  but 
being  so  vast  they  let  it  alone.  These  people  are  great  in  epitaphs. 
I  have  sometimes  ventured  to  say  that  if  the  dead  could  rise  at 
night  in  darkness,  and  had  to  return  to  their  several  graves  in  the 
morning,  they  would  never  be  able  to  get  back  again  to  their  right 
places  if  they  had  nothing  to  guide  them  but  their  epitaphs. 
They  would  be  so  surprised  at  their  own  grandeur  they  would 
not  dare  to  get  in  again.  Men  cannot  live  on  epitaphs,  and  the 
poor  are  not  much  obliged  to  us  for  drinking  their  health  in  a 
bacchanalian  toast.  Better  throw  a  bone  without  any  flesh  upon 
it  to  the  hungriest  dog  that  ever  lived,  than  talk  about  all  the 
hungry  dogs  and  give  them  no  bone.  Church  of  the  living  God, 
you  can  be  mighty  amongst  the  poor  :  foiled  for  the  moment  in 
wordy  argument,  you  can  set  up  a  plea  for  Christianity  in  the 
hearts  of  the  poor  that  the  poor  can  understand  and  apply. 

The  word  waste  was  used  in  connection  with  this  offering. 
' '  Why — to  what  purpose — was  this  waste  ?' '  The  word  that  is 
rendered  waste  in  the  English  tongue  may  be  rendered  perdition.  At 
the  last  Christ  said,  concerning  this  same  opposing  and  querulous 
Judas  Iscariot,  "  I  have  lost  none  but  the  son  of  waste,  the  son  of 
perdition.  He  accused  the  poor  woman  of  having  done  a  perdi- 
tional  act.  A  man  can  only  speak  on  the  level  of  his  own  nature  : 
I  have  lost  him  :  it  was  not  the  ointment  that  was  wasted,  but 
himself  that  was  waste." 

Ay,  so  it  shall  be  in  the  judgment.  Nothing  shall  be  lost  that 
can  be  kept,  and  what  is  lost  shall  be  the  son  of  perdition. 


LXXXVIIL 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  always  leading  us  onward  to  Gethsemane, 
happy  we  if  thou  wilt  enable  us  to  sing  a  hymn  here  and  there  on  the 
road.  This  is  thy  purpose  that  we  should  take  our  sorrows  as  the  begin- 
ning of  our  joys,  and  should  look  onward  beyond  the  place  of  the  shadow 
into  the  place  of  the  shining  of  the  eternal  light.  Our  eye  will  sorrow- 
fully rest  upon  the  gloom,  it  will  not  lift  itself  hopefully  and  look  onward 
to  the  light,  and  herein  have  we  great  and  needless  sorrow,  for  we  re- 
member not  that  the  dawn  is  at  hand,  and  that  thou  art  preparing  us  for 
great  visions  of  glory.  Help  us,  in  the  spirit  of  our  Master,  to  endure 
the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  looking  onward  all  the  while  to  the 
glory  that  shall  be  revealed.  Show  us  that  the  walk  is  a  short  one  to 
Gethsemane,  there  a  night  of  praying  and  sweltering  blood,  by  and  by, 
and  sharply,  the  cruel  cross  with  its  nails  and  spear,  then  a  moment's 
burial,  and  away  into  immortality.  May  this  lie  before  us  as  the  open 
road  of  the  soul,  and  believing  these  great  and  solemn  truths  may  we 
gird  up  our  loins  and  pursue  the  way  thou  hast  marked  for  our  feet. 
Grant  unto  us  that  whilst  we  are  eating  the  bread  of  afflictions  and  the 
bitter  Egyptian  herbs,  we  may  see  our  deliverer  and  hear  the  voice  of 
emancipation. 

Thou  hast  led  us  just  in  the  old  Biblical  way  :  no  new  line  have  we 
written,  though  we  have  often  tried  to  do  so.  Thou  dost  begin  with  us 
in  the  sunny  garden  where  the  four  rivers  are  and  all  the  beauteous 
flowers  and  luscious  fruits  :  thou  dost  grant  unto  us  limitation,  and  bind 
us  to  do  this  as  well  as  not  to  do  that,  and  we  are  tempted  and  seduced 
and  lured  by  visible  and  invisible  powers,  and  drawn  straight  to  disobe- 
dience and  rebellion.  We  are  cast  out  of  the  garden  into  the  wilderness, 
the  great,  bleak,  drear  desert,  and  but  for  thy  mercy  we  should  die  there  ; 
but  thou  dost  appear  for  us  and  grant  a  great  promise,  even  to  the  rebel- 
lious heart,  and  thou  dost  set  before  our  blinded  eyes,  blinded  because  of 
great  tears  of  sorrow,  the  rainbow  of  covenant  and  hope,  and  the  great 
light  of  final  restoration,  being  purified  by  the  sacrificial  blood.  And  on- 
ward thou  dost  lead  us,  over  many  a  weary  road,  along  many  a  length- 
ening mile,  until  we  are  tompelled  to  sit  down  for  very  tiredness,  and  to 
beg  water  from  the  wayfarer,  and  yet  all  the  while  thou  dost  show  to  our 
eyes  the  whitening  harvest,  and  give  to  us  promise  of  plenitude  of  joy 
and  deep  and  durable  content.     Lead  on,   thou  gracious  One  :  we  will 


214  MATTHEW  XXVI.  14-30. 

follow  thee  :  Saviour  of  the  world,  cleanse  us  every  day  by  thy  blood, 
inspire  us  by  thy  Spirit,  feed  us  with  thy  truth,  and  sustain  us  with  thy 
grace. 

We  bless  thee  that  we  cannot  die.  If  any  man  believeth  in  Christ,  he 
shall  never  see  death  :  it  may  pass  by  him,  and  change  his  relation  to 
things,  but  he  will  never  see  it.  This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the 
world,  even  our  faith,  so  now  we  say,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?"  We  have  conquest  and  peace  through  him 
who  was  calm  with  the  serenity  of  God. 

We  commend  one  another  to  thy  gentle  protection.  Regard  our  affec- 
tionate solicitude  for  one  another  as  a  prayer  unto  thyself  and  plentifully 
answer  it,  thou  whose  heart  is  love.  We  commend  unto  thee  all  for 
whom  we  ought  to  pray,  the  royal,  the  great,  the  ruling,  those  who  lead 
our  sentiment  and  direct  our  national  affairs,  for  all  men  in  authority  and 
influential  positions— the  Lord's  blessing  be  not  withheld  from  any  one 
of  them,  may  they  be  caught  in  the  impartial  rain  of  his  grace,  and  re- 
joice because  he  h^th  visited  his  inheritance.  Regard  our  loved  ones 
from  whom  we  are  separated  for  the  moment  ;  be  with  them  in  the  far 
away  city,  on  the  great  sea,  in  the  middle  of  the  wilderness,  amongst 
strange  people  and  amongst  languages  they  cannot  speak  :  bring  them 
back  to  us  in  thy  due  course,  thou  who  dost  keep  the  time  of  the  world  in 
the  high  Heavens.  Take  up  our  children  into  thine  arms  and  bless  them, 
thou  Son  of  Mary,  thou  Son  of  every  woman. 

Oh  let  thy  light  and  thy  salvation  go  forth  like  angels  over  all  the 
earth,  drive  away  the  darkness  of  sin,  superstition,  error  :  liberate  from 
bondage  all  who  are  enclosed  in  the  prison  of  fear,  distress,  or  despair, 
or  do  thou  come,  thou  mighty  One,  whose  right  it  is  to  reign,  and  having 
cleansed  us  in  the  one  fount  opened  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,  and  re- 
generated us  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  may  the  earth  be 
recovered  from  her  wandering,  may  the  prodigal  be  brought  home  again 
and  set  among  the  brotherhood  of  the  stars,  to  go  out  no  more  for  ever. 
Amen. 

Matthew  xxvi.  14-30. 

14.  Then  one  of  the  twelve,  called  Judas  Iscariot,  went  unto  the  chief 
priests, 

15.  And  said  unto  them,  What  will  ye  give  me,  and  I  will  deliver  him 
unto  you  ?     And  they  covenanted  with  him  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

16.  And  from  that  time  he  sought  opportunity  to  betray  him. 

17.  Now  the  first  day  of  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  the  disciples 
came  to  Jesus,  saying  unto  him,  Where  wilt  thou  that  we  prepare  foK  thee 
to  eat  the  passover  ? 

18.  And  he  said,  Go  into  the  city  to  such  a  man  and  say  unto  him,  The 
Master  saith,  My  time  is  at  hand  :  I  will  keep  the  passover  at  thy  house 
with  my  disciples. 


TRUE  MEANINGS   OF  OLD   TERMS.  215 

19.  And  the  disciples  did  as  Jesus  had  appointed  them  ;  and  they  made 
ready  the  passover. 

20.  Now  when  the  even  was  come,  he  sat  down  with  the  twelve. 

21.  And  as  they  did  eat,  he  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of 
you  shall  betray  me. 

22.  And  they  were  exceeding  sorrowful,  and  began  every  one  of  them 
to  say  unto  him,  Lord,  is  it  I  ? 

23.  And  he  answered  and  said,  He  that  dippeth  his  hand  with  me  in 
the  dish,  the  same  shall  betray  me. 

24.  The  Son  of  man  goeth  as  it  is  written  of  him  :  but  woe  unto  that 
man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed  !  it  had  been  good  for  that  man 
if  he  had  not  been  born. 

25.  Then  Judas,  which  betrayed  him,  answered  and  said,  Master,  is  it 
I  ?     He  said  unto  him,  Thou  hast  said. 

26.  And  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread,  and  blessed  it,  and 
brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  and  said,  Take,  eat  ;  this  is  my 
body. 

27.  And  he  took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to  them,  saying, 
Drink  ye  all  of  it ; 

28.  For  this  is  my  blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many 
for  the  remission  of  sins. 

29.  But  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not  drink  henceforth  of  this  fruit  of  the 
vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new  with  you  in  my  Father's  king- 
dom. 

30.  And  when  they  had  sung  an  hymn,  they  went  out  into  the  mount 
of  Olives. 

SANCTIFIED   SYMBOLS. 

YOU  remember  the  meaning  of  the  passover  :  it  was  a  feast  of 
the  Jews,  established  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  in  perpetual 
remembrance  the  passing  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  coming  out  of  Egypt, 
the  final  deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage.  This  festival  was 
kept  up  every  year  by  the  Jews,  it  was  therefore  the  feast  of 
memorial,  its  one  purpose  was  to  keep  continually  in  view  the 
power  and  goodness  of  God,  displayed  to  ancient  Israel  in  deliver- 
ing the  people  from  Pharaoh  and  in  causing  them  to  pass  over  the 
Red  Sea  as  on  dry  ground. 

Jesus,  as  a  Jew,  would  keep  this  feast.  You  reform  institutions 
best  oftentimes  by  remaining  within  them.  It  is  true  that  on  many 
occasions  assaults  may  be  delivered  from  the  outside,  but  as  a 
general  rule  the  great  and  beneficent  revolutions  and  reforms 
come  from  within  the  institutions  thesmelves,  and  are  unmarked 


216  MATTHEW  XXVI.  14-30. 


by  the  violence  of  external  onslaught.  Jesus  Christ  said,  early  in 
his  ministry,  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and 
the  prophets  :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil," — that  is, 
to  bring  up  to  the  very  highest  point  of  meaning  and  to  cause  to 
pass  away,  because  the  divine  idea  has  ripened  and  culminated 
and  there  is  therefore  nothing  further  for  the  institution  to  accom- 
plish. 

The  disciples  asked  him  where  they  should  prepare  the  passover 
for  him.  It  was  a  family  feast  :  there  was  something  national  in 
the  arrangements,  and  there  was  something  domestic  in  the  details. 
All  the  lambs  were  brought  together,  penned  together,  so  that  the 
Jews  went  down  and  chose  their  lambs  from  the  great  multitude, 
and  took  those  lambs  to  the  priest  to  be  examined,  that  they 
might  be  declared  to  be  fit  for  the  sacrifice.  Two  of  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  Christ  went  onward  to  do  this  preliminary  work.  They 
M'ent  to  the  pens,  they  selected  a  lamb  according  to  the  law,  they 
took  their  turn  amongst  the  others  in  having  the  lamb  submitted 
to  the  priest's  scrutiny  :  in  due  time  it  was  slain  in  the  legal  way 
and  eviscerated,  and  what  was  designed  for  the  altar  was  left  be- 
hind, and  the  carcase  was  trussed  with  two  skewers  made  of 
pomegranate  wood  and  shaped  like  a  cross,  and  then  the  lamb  was 
taken  home  to  be  prepared  for  the  evening  meal. 

The  disciples,  acting  under  the  instructions  of  Jesus  Christ, 
were  dependent  on  another  man  for  hospitality.  Perhaps  John, 
Mark,  perhaps  Joseph  of  Arimathaea — the  name  is  not  given. 
There  was  no  reason  to  divulge  it  at  the  time,  and  it  has  now 
fallen  into  oblivion.  But  hospitality  was  willingly  and  graciously 
offered  on  the  occasion  of  the  passover,  and  those  who  were  very 
poor,  and  offered  such  hospitality  as  was  in  their  power,  were  re- 
warded by  having  the  skin  of  the  lamb  left,  and  by  having  the 
vessels  which  were  used  at  the  little  feast  given  to  them.  The 
passover  was  never  to  be  celebrated  by  fewer  than  ten  or  by  more 
than  twenty  at  a  time.  Jesus  went  with  the  twelve — one  of  them 
was  hardly  in  the  count — it  was  just  about  enough.  We  shall 
get  the  revelation  why  certain  numbers  were  chosen,  by-and-by  : 
we  shall  find  that  not  the  smallest  thing  in  the  whole  economy 
was  done  by  the  law  of  haphazard  or  accident. 

Look  at  the  little  plain  table.  There  is  on  it  the  unleavened 
bread,  the  bread  of  affliction,  calling  up  the  afflictions  of  ancient 


CHRIST'S  CONTINUED  IDENTITY.  217 

Israel.  On  it  there  was  also  a  dish  of  bitter  herbs,  reminding 
those  who  partook  of  them  of  the  hard  life  which  ancient  Israel 
was  doomed  to  live  in  Egypt,  and  there  was  upon  it  a  dish  of  the 
conserve  of  fruits,  and  that  might  sweeten  the  feast  a  little,  for 
surely  in  every  lot  there  is  one  drop  of  sweetness.  And  there  were 
three  cups  of  wine,  or  one  cup  thrice  filled  ;  it  was  filled  with  red 
wine  mingled  with  water,  and  it  was  presented  to  the  head  of  the 
feast.  He  rose  and  uttered  a  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  fruit  of 
the  vine,  and  partook  of  it  and  passed  the  cup  on  to  the  other 
guests,  and  then  the  second  cup  came  and  they  ate  again  and 
commented  upon  the  meaning  of  the  festival,  and  the  third  cup 
was  filled,  and  it  was  after  that,  that  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus 
took  the  bread  and  blessed  it,  and  brake  it  and  gave  it  to  the  dis- 
ciples, and  said,  ' '  Take,  eat  :  this  is  my  body. ' '  And  he  took 
the  cup  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to  them,  saying,  "  Drink  ye 
all  of  it,  for  this  is  my  blood  of  the  new  covenant — rather  than 
testament — which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins." 
According  to  an  Eastern  custom,  the  guests  put  their  fingers  into 
the  vessels  and  took  out  what  they  required  to  eat,  hence  the  ex- 
pression :  "  He  that  dippeth  his  hand  with  me  in  the  dish,"  he 
that  is  dipping  it,  he  that  has  just  dipped  it,  the  hand  that  has  just 
met  mine,  "  the  same  shall  betray  me.  It  is  the  last  time  the 
hands  shall  meet  on  earth,  they  have  joined  together  in  this  one 
act  of  fellowship  ;  hence  on  there  will  be  nothing  but  disseverance, 
separation  of  the  widest  kind,  which  no  line  can  measure.  He 
whose  hand  is  with  mine  in  the  dish,  or  has  just  been  with  mine 
in  the  dish,  the  same  shall  betray  me. ' ' 

Such  is  a  little  history  of  this  memorial  festival,  which  I  have 
rapidly  sketched  in  order  that  we  may  the  more  vividly  realise  the 
scene,  whilst  I  proceed  to  ask  one  question  and  to  answer  it, 
namely  :  Is  this  the  same  Jesus  with  whom  we  have  accompanied 
in  the  reading  of  this  gospel,  these  many  months  past  ?  Can  we 
identify  him  as  the  same — has  he  changed  in  any  vital  aspect  or 
relation  ?  We  have  never  seen  him  under  such  a  shadow  before. 
Does  he  now,  under  the  impending  and  terrific  gloom,  reveal  the 
same  features  P  Could  little  children  go  up  to  him  now  and  say, 
"  This  is  the  Jesus  that  once  blessed  us  ?"  Or  is  this  some  fancy 
portrait,  lacking  in  every  element  of  consistency  with  the  living  man 
who  has   travelled  with    us   month  by  month  in  our  Scriptural 


218  MATTHEW  XXVI.  14-30. 

studies  and  made  our  hearts  burn  within  us  ?  To  my  mind  it  is  the 
same  Jesus,  and  I  think  the  proof  is  more  than  ample.  Here,  for 
example,  is  the  same  absolute  control  aver  all  circumstances,  giving 
him  the  unspeakable  serenity  which  has  always  appeared  to  us  to 
be  amongst  the  sublimest  of  his  miracles.  He  is  in  no  tumult : 
the  great  clock  has  struck  his  hour,  but  the  striking  has  not  para- 
lysed him  :  he  is,  if  possible,  grander  than  ever,  as  there  is  about 
the  sunset  a  royalty  that  we  do  not  see  in  the  rising  sun,  a  richer 
pomp,  a  grander  magnificence.  In  the  rising  sun  there  was 
power,  promise,  prophecy,  the  uplifting  of  one  who  said,  ' '  I  can 
do  it,  and  will  do  it ;  I  will  fill  the  whole  arch  with  light  and  make 
it  glow  with  heat,"  but  about  the  setting  sun  there  is  the  calm- 
ness of  one  whose  battle  is  won,  a  king  dying  amid  pomp  worthy 
the  grandeur  of  his  life. 

So  Jesus  Christ  calls  himself  the  Master  even  now.  When  he 
instructed  the  disciples  to  go  into  the  city  to  such  a  man,  he  told 
them  to  say  unto  the  man,  ' '  The  Master  saith. ' '  Coming  from 
his  lips  these  words  have  great  meaning  ;  coming  from  his  lips  at 
such  a  time  they  seal  him  as  one  who  was  indestructibly  conscious 
of  sovereignty.  He  does  not  tremble  or  cower  or  beg.  He  com- 
mands even  now,  without  a  house  to  eat  the  passover  in,  dependent 
upon  his  friends  for  the  last  hospitality — he  does  not  say,  "  I  ask 
thee,  I  beg  of  thee,  I  entreat  of  thee, ' '  he  says,  ' '  The  Master 
saith,  My  time  is  at  hand  :  I  will  keep  the  passover  at  thy  house 
with  my  disciples. ' '  Why,  this  is  the  very  Jesus  that  looked  up 
and  saw  Zacchseus,  and  said,  "  Make  haste,  Zacchseus,  and  come 
down,  for  to-day  I  must  abide  at  thine  house."  He  had  no 
house,  and  yet  he  seemed  to  have  all  houses  :  he  went  in  where  he 
pleased,  and  made  the  place  the  greater  by  his  presence.  Poverty 
never  lost  anything  by  his  entertainment,  and  the  rich  man 
always  found  his  silver  cup  on  the  top  of  the  sack  when  he  opened 
it,  when  his  wondrous  Guest  had  gone,  and  the  money  was 
there,  and  nothing  was  lost.  This  is  Christian  experience  the 
ages  through.  No  man  loses  anything  by  Christ.  When  any 
man  in  a  moment  of  haste  and  thoughtlessness  says,  "  We  have 
forsaken  all  and  followed  thee, ' '  he  makes  such  a  reply  as  causes 
the  man  to  burn  with  shame  that  he  was  forgetful  enough  and  un- 
grateful enough  to  mention  the  little  so-called  sacrifice  he  had 
made. 


CONTINUED    COMPASSION.  219 

Here  is  a  mastery  of  details.  Everything  was  pointed  out  with 
the  ease  and  clearness  of  a  man  who  apparently  had  nothing  else 
to  do.  Where  the  room  was,  how  it  was  furnished,  how  every- 
thing was  to  be  set  in  order — so  that  no  two  men  ever  left  a 
master  with  more  carefully  or  precisely  worded  instructions.  He 
does  not  hang  down  his  head  that  he  may  sob  out  his  weakness, 
he  does  not  speak  incoherently  because  of  the  great  pressure  that 
was  upon  his  life,  he  does  not  say,  "  Please  spare  me  now  :  do 
what  you  will,  and  whatever  you  arrange,  I  will  accept. ' '  He  is 
still  Master,  and  Lord  still,  and  Great  Sovereign  yet,  and  the 
outgoing  of  his  words  is  the  utterance  of  a  command,  and  in  his 
look  there  is  nothing  to  betray  the  consciousness  of  fear  or  the 
presence  of  weakness.  So  far  we  know  we  can  identify  him  as  the 
Man  who  was  always  the  same,  who  never  knew  one  shock  of 
paralysis,  who  never  hesitated  as  to  the  course  he  ought  to 
pursue,  and  who,  when  his  voice  was  lowest,  showed  that  it  was 
not  the  suppression  which  comes  of  weakness,  but  the  lowering  of 
his  mighty  thunder  to  accommodate  the  weakness  of  others. 

Here  also  we  have  the  same  tender  compassion.  Again  and  again 
we  have  seen  that  compassion  is  the  key-word  of  the  Saviour's 
life.  But  for  his  pity  the  most  of  his  miracles  never  would  have 
been  wrought.  He  never  worked  a  miracle  merely  to  exhibit  his 
strength.  He  never  hurled  his  almightiness  upon  the  attention  of 
society  to  overcome  men  by  mere  power.  He  wept,  he  sighed, 
he  pitied,  he  compassionated  with  the  most  clement  and  tender 
spirit ;  and  because  he  had  compassion  upon  those  who  were 
needy  and  in  pain  or  in  great  distress,  he  wrought  miracles  for  the 
supply  of  their  necessity,  for  the  soothing  of  their  pain,  and  for 
the  abolition  of  their  sorrow. 

We  have  the  same  compassion  exhibited  in  this  closing  instance 
of  his  fellowship  with  the  disciples.  Whom  does  he  compassionate 
now  ?  He  compassionates  Judas  Iscariot.  Think  of  that  for  one 
moment.  Surely  we  read  the  words  in  a  wrong  tone  if  we  read 
the  twenty-fourth  verse  as  a  mere  threatening — "  Woe  unto  that 
man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed  :  it  had  been  good  for 
that  man  if  he  had  not  been  born."  He  does  not  turn  upon 
Judas  and  look  daggers  at  him  :  he  does  not  utter  these  words  in 
a  tone  of  exasperation  and  resentment,  then  the  occasion  would 
have  lost  its  sublimity.     He    interprets  the    great    decrees  :  he 


MATTHEW  XXVI.  14-30. 


stands  fast  in  the  tabernacle  of  God's  eternity,  and  there  might 
have  been  tears  in  his  eyes  when  he  said  :  "  Woe  unto  that  man 
by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed. ' '  Not,  ' '  I  threaten  you 
with  woe,"  not,  "  I  will  one  day  repay  you  for  this,"  not, 
"This  is  the  day  of  your  triumph,  but  my  day  will  come,  and 
then  I  will  visit  you  with  penal  chastisement  because  of  this  be- 
trayal. ' '  Such  a  tone  would  have  been  out  of  rhythm  with  the 
gospel  of  his  love,  and  also  with  the  thunder  of  his  almighti- 
ness  ;  it  would  have  become  a  quarrel,  a  mere  contention  ;  he  re- 
garded it  as  a  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  the  final  expression  of  that 
which  had  been  decreed  from  eternity.  Woe  will  be  the  lot  of 
him  who  does  this,  he  will  suffer  for  it  when  he  sees  one  day  what 
has  been  done  :  he  will  have  no  joy  in  this,  he  will  sup  sorrow 
out  of  a  deep  bowl  and  will  drink  the  very  dregs  of  the  bitterness. 
Oh,  I  pity  that  man  ;  it  had  been  good  for  him  that  he  had  not 
been  born. 

Do  not  understand  from  these  remarks  that  Judas  was  a  good 
man.  This  does  not  alter  the  character  of  Judas  himself  :  I  am 
speaking  of  the  divine  interpretation  of  a  fact,  and  the  divine  in- 
terpretation of  the  development  of  a  certain  man's  character. 
Judas  himself  was  a  traitor,  a  thief,  a  man  for  whom  no  word  of 
merely  personal  condemnation  is  bad  enough,  but  we  must  not 
find  the  whole  interpretation  of  the  case  herein  :  there  is  the  divine 
view  as  well  as  the  human  view,  and  Jesus  Christ  pities  the  man 
who  has  fitted  himself  to  carry  out  this  purpose  though  it  be  old 
as  the  decrees  of  eternity  :  he  pities  the  sinner  in  working  out  the 
sin,  there  is  an  aspect  of  every  sinner  which  touches  him,  not  with 
anger,  but  with  real  grief  and  pity  ;  when  he  £ees  a  man  breaking 
his  commandments  right  in  two,  and  throwing  the  halves  away 
from  him  with  eager  hand,  he  does  not  burn  with  anger  only. 
Leave  such  anger  to  artificial  dieties.  God  is  love,  and  he  cries 
over  the  poor  fool  as  he  sees  him  doing  the  wrong.  That  does 
not  excuse  the  man,  that  does  not  make  the  man  one  whit  whiter 
or  better,  but  I  contend  that  there  is  an  aspect  even  of  sin  which 
moves  the  divine  pity  as  well  as  the  divine  anger,  and  I  feel  that 
the  rhythm  of  this  solemn  music  is  kept  up  equally  throughout, ' 
not  by  interposing  notes  of  discord  such  as  would  follow  in  mere 
commination  or  threat  of  penalty.  I  would  see  in  these  words 
from  Christ's  point  of  view  the  sorrow  which  God  always  feels 


SANCTIFICATION  OF  INCIDENTS. 


when  he  looks  upon  the  traitor.  We  are  all  traitors  ;  some  have 
come  to  public  infamy,  but  all  should  live  in  private  shame.  We 
may  run  away  from  Judas  as  to  the  mere  accident  of  what  he  did, 
but  he  is  our  brother,  born  in  our  heart,  and  we  are  born  in  his, 
so  far  as  the  internal  act  of  personal  disobedience  or  rebellion  or 
treachery  is  concerned. 

We  misrepresent  the  great  Father  when  we  think  of  him  only 
as  being  angry  with  the  sinner.  Anger  never  suggests  redemption  ; 
wherever  God  has  followed  the  sinner  with  offers  of  redemption 
and  mercy  and  forgiveness,  it  is  because  he  has  looked  upon  the 
sinner,  not  with  an  eye  of  anger  only,  but  with  an  eye  of  pity  and 
tenderness  and  compassion,  so  far  as  the  sinner  himself  is  con- 
cerned. He  never  looks  with  pity  upon  the  sin,  he  never  looks 
without  pity  on  the  sinner. 

This  is  the  same  Jesus  then  :  he  is  as  compassionate  as  ever,  he 
will  love  down  to  the  end.  Perhaps  even  on  the  rack  itself  he 
may  say,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do,"  and  if  so,  he  will,  to  his  last  breath,  be  as  compassionate  as 
he  has  been  throughout  his  whole  career.  Let  us  wait  and 
see. 

In  the  next  place,  here  is  the  same  use  of  incidents,  and  the  same 
elevation  of  opportunities  and  occasions  to  their  highest  signifi- 
cance and  purpose.  "  And  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread, 
and  blessed  it,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  his  disciples,  and  said, 
Take,  eat ;  this  is  my  body.  And  he  took  the  cup  and  gave 
thanks,  and  gave  it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it,  for  this  is 
my  blood  of  the  new  covenant. ' '  Have  we  seen  this  Jesus  before  ? 
Unquestionably.  Where  ?  At  Cana  in  Galilee.  What  was  he 
doing  there — was  he  keeping  the  feast  of  the  passover  ?  No — he 
was  keeping  a  wedding  feast,  and  at  that  wedding  feast  he  turned 
the  water  into  wine,  and  now  he  turns  the  wine  into  blood.  He 
always  moves  to  some  higher  generalisation,  to  some  broader  gift, 
to  some  grander  display  of  beneficent  power.  Where  have  we 
seen  this  Jesus  before  ?  In  the  desert  place.  What  was  he  doing 
there?  Turning  a  few  loaves  into  a  feast  for  a  great  multitude. 
What  is  he  doing  now  ?  Taking  the  bread  lying  before  him  and 
breaking  it  so  that  it  should  be  in  symbol  his  broken  body,  flesh 
given  for  the  life  of  the  world. 


MATTHEW  XXVI.  14-30. 


Have  we  seen  this  power  displayed  elsewhere  ?  Indisputably. 
Where  ?  Why  in  the  very  beginning.  God  took  the  dust  of  the 
earth  and  made  of  it  a  man.  Christ  took  the  water  and  made  it 
into  wine  :  he  took  the  wine  and  made  it  into  blood,  he  took  the 
bread  and  made  it  into  flesh — behold  I  make  all  things  new  ! 
think  not  to  say  unto  yourselves,  We  are  the  children  of  Abraham, 
for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham.  Think  not  that  you  are  reputed  the 
succession,  and  that  God  is  depenent  upon  you  for  the  continuity 
of  the  Abrahamic  line  :  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up 
children  unto  Abraham. 

We  do  not  see  the  deep  meaning  of  things.  We  read  the  letter 
and  leave  it  as  the  letter  :  we  do  not  wait  until  it  burns,  and  out  of 
it  there  comes  the  voice  of  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob. 
Hence  we  have  all  manner  of  foolish  controversies  about  the 
words  "  This  is  my  body  :  this  is  my  blood."  Go  back  to  the 
feast  itself,  sit  down  as  members  of  that  little  band,  and  watch  the 
action  from  its  beginning,  and  tell  me  if  the  mystery  be  not  im- 
ported into  it  by  the  priests,  for  it  is  not  there  by  the  action  of 
Christ  himself.  When  we  come  to  what  is  now  termed  the 
Lord's  Supper,  we  come  to  the  passover  of  the  Christian  Church, 
we  come  to  eat  memorial  bread  and  drink  memorial  wine.  There 
is  no  magic  about  it,  no  priest's  fingers  manipulate  the  elements 
so  as  to  change  them  or  give  them  value.  They  are  to  you  what 
you  are  to  them.  You  do  not  see  them,  you  eat  as  if  not  eating, 
drink  as  if  not  drinking,  and  if  your  heart  be  penitent  and  broken 
utterly,  and  there  be  no  place  in  it  or  excuse  for  sin,  and  your 
whole  soul  goes  out  after  the  loving  Christ  for  the  benefits  of  his 
completed  redemption  and  his  continual  intercession,  you  will  be 
as  if  you  had  eaten  his  flesh  and  drunken  the  very  blood  of  his 
heart.  Do  not  try  to  explain  these  things  in  words,  and  do  not 
fritter  away  your  attention  and  fritter  away  your  love,  too,  in  trying 
to  reconcile  these  with  your  reason.  You  cannot  take  the  whole 
sum  into  your  house,  however  broad  your  window  or  directly 
southerly  your  aspect  :  you  can  take  in  but  a  ray  or  two,  the 
great  sun  does  not  feel  as  a  prisoner  within  the  lines  of  your 
architecture.  -  So  with  these  great  sacred  hallowed  histories  and 
suggestions  ;  they  take  upon  themselves  the  language  of  every 
country,  the  accent  of  every  dialect,  and  they  change  themselves 


TO    GETHSEMANE.  223 


so  as  to  throw  broadening  glory  and  ample  hospitality  according 
to  the  ever-enlarging  civilisation  of  the  world. 

And  is  there  some  poor  soul  that  is  afraid  of  eating  and  drinking 
the  bread  and  wine  unworthily  ?  You  cannot  do  so  if  you  eat 
and  drink  penitentially.  If  you  turn  the  action  into  a  revel,  into 
a  drunkard's  feast,  you  eat  and  drink  unworthily.  It  is  not  you 
that  have  to  be  worthy,  it  is  the  feast  that  has  to  be  worthily 
approached,  that  is  to  say,  approached  with  a  due  sense  of  its 
dignity,  meaning,  unction,  and  spiritual  suggestion. 

The  passover  was  eaten,  the  mouthful  of  bitter  herbs  had  been 
taken  by  Christ  for  the  last  time,  the  new  Symbol  had  been  set  up, 
the  law  of  the  passover  had  been  fulfilled  in  the  institution  of 
the  symbolic  feast.  ' '  And  when  they  had  sung  an  hymn,  they 
went  out  into  the  mount  of  Olives."  Some  few  of  the  men  sang 
the  great  solemn  words  of  the  ancient  Hallelujah,  then  the  others 
joined  in  saying  the  last  words  of  the  song,  and  ended  with  the 
exclamation,  "  Hallelujah."  They  fulfilled  the  law  to  the  last 
letter,  no  jot  or  tittle  of  it  was  taken  away.  Poor  singing  it  was, 
from  an  artistic  point  of  view — grand  singing  from  the  heavenly 
standpoint.  If  you  sing  artistically  only,  the  shame  be  yours  and 
mine.  Sometimes  the  hymn  that  is  sobbed  may  be  more  acceptable 
than  the  hymn  that  is  sung.  Sometimes  the  prayer  that  is  broken 
off  in  the  middle  is  a  mightier  intercession  than  a  gorgeous  address 
or  a  splendid  litany.  God  accepts  the  heart  :  he  knows  what 
we  would  do  if  we  could,  but  "  God  abhors  the  sacrifice  where 
not  the  heart  is  found." 

They  went  out  into  the  mount  of  Olives.  So  simple  is  the  action 
when  set  down  in  cold  words.  There  never  was  such  a  going  out 
before — there  never  has  been  such  a  going  out  since  !  Let  us  be 
very  quiet  just  now  :  the  Master  has  gone  out — He  is  on  his  way 
to  Gethsemane ! 

To  Gethsemane  ! 


LXXXIX. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  who  hast  shown  men  great  and  sore  trouble  wilt 
revive  them  again,  and  their  joy  shall  be  greater  than  their  sorrow  ;  as 
where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound,  so  where  death 
abounds,  there  shall  be  overflowing  life,  so  much  so,  that  the  death  shall 
not  be  spoken  of  but  as  a  shadow  upon  an  infinite  firmament.  Thou  dost 
love  us  in  Christ  Jesus  the  Priest  :  he  has  bought  us  with  his  blood,  and 
to-day  we  stand  at  his  cross,  full  of  gratitude,  our  lips  eloquent  with 
psalms  of  adoration  and  thankfulness,  and  our  whole  heart  going  out 
after  thee  in  solemn  and  loving  desire.  Thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years 
fail  not  :  with  our  growing  weakness  thou  art  to  us  growingly  strong, 
and  if  our  eyes  fail,  thou  dost  increase  the  light  according  to  their  failure, 
so  that  in  our  soul  there  is  the  shining  of  everlasting  day. 

We  know  these  things  by  our  hearts,  and  can  tell  them  only  in  feeble 
and  unworthy  words  :  there'  is  no  speech  for  thy  goodness  of  the  same 
pattern  and  scope  whereby  we  can  set  it  forth  to  our  own  hearing  and  our 
own  vision.  The  dream  is  within,  the  vision  is  in  the  heart :  we  see  with 
our  love  and  hear  with  the  inner  ear,  and  when  men  ask  us  for  words  of 
publication,  behold  there  is  no  speech  upon  our  tongue  :  we  can  but  burn 
within  and  feel  thy  speechless  presence.  Thou  art  good  to  us  with  both 
hands  :  the  right  hand  of  the  Lord  is  full  of  power,  his  left  hand  is  under 
us  as  a  security  and  protection,  thine  eyes  are  lighted  with  love,  the  open- 
ing of  thy  mouth  is  as  the  dropping  of  honey  upon  our  life,  and  all  round 
about  us,  nearer  than  the  living  air,  is  thy  presence,  a  great  light,  an 
eternal  comfort,  a  sure  and  steadfast  hope. 

We  have  come  to  praise  thee  upon  the  harp  of  many  strings,  upon  the 
organ,  yea  with  trumpets  and  voices  of  the  heart  and  soul.  We  would 
call  upon  all  things  that  have  breath  to  praise  the  Lord,  we  would 
demand,  in  addition  to  our  solitary  utterance  of  praise,  the  choral  service 
of  the  universe,  for  thou  hast  done  great  things  for  us  whereof  we  are 
glad.  Thou  dost  come  into  the  orchard  of  our  life  and  do  wonderful 
things.  Thou  dost  sometimes  blight  the  blossom  and  take  away  the  little 
bud,  so  that  the  hope  of  the  heart  is  chilled  and  slain.  Sometimes  thou 
dost  come  in  the  autumn,  and  with  thine  own  hand  pluck  the  ripe  fruit 
and  hide  it  in  the  Heavens.  It  is  all  thine,  the  tender  little  color,  and 
the  luscious  fruit,  the  whole  tree,  root  and  branch  is  thine  :  it  is  not  ours. 
So  do  we  say  when  the  blossom  goes  and  the  fruit  is  plucked,  "  The  Lord 


PRA  YER.  225 

gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away  :  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
One  dieth  in  his  full  strength,  being  wholly  at  ease  and  quiet  ;  another 
dieth  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul  and  shall  see  pleasure  no  more.  Thou 
dost  cut  down  with  mighty  strength  the  life  too  frail  for  such  power  to 
strike  it,  and  thou  dost  gather  to  thjself  other  lives  like  shocks  of  corn 
fully  ripe.  The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away,  blessed  be 
the  name  of  the  Lord.  Thou  dost  smite  the  mighty  man  in  his  eminence, 
thou  dost  cut  down  the  cedar  and  call  upon  the  fir  tree  to  howl  because 
the  king  of  the  forest  is  overthrown,  and  thou  dost  take  away  our  father 
and  mother,  our  wife  and  child,  those  that  go  back  to  our  earliest  years 
and  make  the  foundations  of  our  little  history.  The  Lord  gave  and  the 
Lord  hath  taken  away  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.  He  is  the  living 
One,  and  in  him  alone  is  immortality,  and  if  thou  dost  take  away,  thou 
wilt  well  keep  :  none  shall  be  able  to  pluck  our  loved  ones  out  of  the 
Father's  hand.  Comfort  all  that  mourn  herein,  and  let  their  mourning 
and  weeping  be  but  for  one  night,  and  their  joy  for  all  the  next  day- 
eternal. 

Let  thy  blessing  come  upon  us  according  to  the  pain  of  our  life  and  the 
need  which  we  feel  growing  into  a  deep  poverty  and  crying  to  thee  in 
feebleness.  Let  our  weakness  be  a  plea,  let  our  blindness  be  the  reason 
of  our  prayer,  find  in  our  necessity  the  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  thy 
grace.  Pity  us  wherein  we  are  little  and  weak  and  poor,  blind  and  not 
able  to  see  afar  off,  and  according  to  the  need  of  our  life  order  thou  the 
multiplication  of  thy  comfort.  Give  us  an  insight,  we  humbly  pray  thee, 
into  the  inner  mysteries,  the  holy  depths  of  divine  truth.  May  we  see 
the  realities  of  things,  may  ours  be  no  surface  looking,  but  a  penetration, 
into  the  soul  and  meaning  of  things  as  they  exist  and  relate  to  the 
infinite. 

The  Lord  comfort  us  with  choice  consolation,  the  Lord  inspire  us  with-, 
new  thought  and  inflame  us  with  new  light:  the  Lord  work  in  us  godly 
discontent  with  all  present  attainments  and  opportunities — give  us  to  cry 
for  larger  growth  and  nobler  attainments  and  services. 

Be  with  all  for  whom  we  ought  to  pray.  Thou  knowest  why  the  seat 
is  vacant,  thou  knowest  where  the  father  of  the  family  is,  or  the  eldest 
son,  or  the  wanderer,  or  the  prodigal  that  will  not  come  to  church.  Thou 
knowest  where  the  sinners  congregate  and  the  scorners  sit.  They  are 
not  here  to-day,  they  do  not  wish  to  be  here,  they  hate  thy  house,  and 
they  make  use  of  thy  name  for  unholy  purposes — yet  is  thy  mercy  greater 
than  their  sin,  thy  grace  overarches  their  life  as  does  the  great  Heaven 
the  little  earth.  O  Lord,  continue  thy  mercy,  keep  back  thy  judgments, 
let  the  prayers  of  thy  people,  like  a  great  wind,  keep  back  the  storm-cloud 
of  thine  anger. 

O  Lord,  hear  us,  O  Lord,  help  us,  O  Lord,  forgive  us — wash  us  in  the- 
atoning  blood,  cleanse  us  by  the  power  of  thy  Koly  Spirit,  and  make  our 
life  richer,  greater,  grander  in  all  holy  aspiration  and  beneficent  uses,  day- 
by  day,  till  the  sun  set,  and  we  pass  on  to  other  climes.     Amen. 


226  MATTHEW  XXVI.  31-46. 


Matthew  xxvi.  31-46. 

31.  Then  saith  Jesus  unto  them,  All  ye  shall  be  offended  because  of 
me  this  night  :  for  it  is  written  (Zech.  xiii.  7),  I  will  smite  the  shepherd, 
and  the  sheep  of  the  flock  shall  be  scattered  abroad. 

32.  But  after  I  am  risen  (unheeded  words  !)  again,  I  will  go  before  you 
into  Galilee. 

33.  Peter  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Though  all  men  shall  be 
offended  because  of  thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended. 

34.  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  That  this  night,  before 
the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice. 

35.  Peter  said  unto  him,  Though  I  should  die  with  thee  (so  Thomas 
had  said,  John  xi.  16),  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee.  Likewise  also  said  all 
the  disciples. 

36.  Then  cometh  Jesus  with  them  unto  a  place  called  Gethsemane  (oil 
press),  and  saith  unto  the  disciples,  Sit  ye  here,  while  I  go  and  pray 
yonder. 

37.  And  he  took  with  him  Peter  and  the  two  sons  of  Zebedee,  and 
began  to  be  sorrowful  and  very  heavy  (weighed  down). 

38.  Then  saith  he  unto  them,  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even 
unto  death  :  tarry  ye  here,  and  watch  with  me. 

39.  And  he  went  a  little  farther  (about  a  stone's  cast),  and  fell  on  his 
face,  and  prayed,  saying,  O  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass 
from  me  ;  nevertheless  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt. 

40.  And  he  cometh  unto  the  disciples,  and  findeth  them  asleep,  and 
saith  unto  Peter,  What,  could  ye  not  watch  with  me  one  hour  ? 

41.  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation  :  the  spirit 
indeed  is  willing  (ready  and  eager),  but  the  flesh  is  weak. 

42.  He  went  away  again  the  second  time,  and  prayed,  saying,  O  my 
Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from  me,  except  I  drink  it,  thy  will 
be  done. 

43.  And  he  came  and  found  them  asleep  again  :  for  their  eyes  were 
heavy. 

44.  And  he  left  them,  and  went  away  again,  and  prayed  the  third  time, 
saying  the  same  words. 

45.  Then  cometh  he  to  his  disciples,  and  saith  unto  them,  Sleep  on 
now,  and  take  your  rest :  behold,  the  hour  is  at  hand,  and  the  Son  of 
man  is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners. 

46.  Rise,  let  us  be  going  (not  to  flight  but  to  danger)  ;  behold,  he  is 
at  hand  that  doth  betray  me. 


WRITTEN  ANSWERS.  227 


THE  CULMINATING  SORROW. 

SMITTEN,"— but  Shepherd  still.  Strokes  do  not  change 
character.  The  Shepherd  was  not  deposed  from  his  tender 
function  ;  he  was  scourged,  smitten,  oppressed,  and  grievously 
tormented,  but  he  was  still  a  Shepherd.  "  Scattered  abroad,"  — 
but  still  the  sheep  of  the  flock.  Understand  that  circumstances 
do  not  make  or  unmake  you.  You  are  not  Christians  because 
you  are  comfortable,  you  are  not  sheep  of  the  flock  because  you 
are  enfolded  upon  the  high  mountains  and  preserved  from  the 
ravening  beast  Sometimes  the  flock  is  scattered,  sometimes  the 
shepherd  is  smitten  ;  but  the  shepherd  is  still  the  shepherd,  the 
flock  is  still  the  flock,  and  the  tender  relation  between  the  two  is 
undisturbed  and  indestructible. 

If  I  were  a  Christian  only  on  my  good  behaviour,  woe  is  me.  If  I 
belong  to  the  flock  only  because  of  the  day's  calm,  or  the  richness 
of  the  pasture,  and  because  of  the  plentifulness  of  all  I  need,  then 
is  my  Christianity  no  faith  at  all  :  it  is  a  thing  of  circumstances,  it 
is  subject  to  climatic  changes  :  any  number  of  accidents  may 
come  down  upon  it  and  utterly  alter  its  quality  and  its  vital  rela- 
tions. I  stand  in  Christ,  I  am  redeemed  with  blood  ;  the  work 
is  done  ;  where  sin  abounds,  grace  doth  much  more  abound.  The 
church  was  just  as  much  a  church  when  she  was  in  dens  and  in 
caves  of  the  earth,  destitute,  tormented,  afflicted,  as  when  she 
roofed  herself  in  and  painted  the  roof  with  gay  colours  and  lighted 
up  the  house  with  rare  lights.  Let  us  more  and  more  understand 
that  our  election  and  standing  are  of  God,  and  are  not  tossed 
about,  varied  and  rendered  uncertain,  by  the  tumultuous  accidents 
of  time  or  by  the  sharp  variations  of  a  necessary  and  profitable 
discipline. 

Jesus  Christ  stood  always  upon  the  written  word.  When  the 
devil  first  tempted  him,  he  answered,  "It  is  written."  Now 
when  the  devil  has  returned  to  him  with  the  whole  host  of  hell  em- 
battled against  his  trembling  life,  he  begins  to  quote  the  Scriptures 
once  more.  What  could  we  do  without  the  writing  />  We  need 
something  to  refer  to,  to  stand  upon,  to  quote — the  positive  and 
real  word.  When  our  mouth  is  filled  with  that,  we  feel  as  if  we 
were  equipped  for  battle.     You  must  not  have  your  Scriptures  to 


228  MATTHEW  XXVI.  31-46. 

extemporize  when  you  need  them  suddenly  :  the  Bible  must  be  old, 
venerable,  dwelling  in  your  heart,  ruling  all  your  thinking,  and 
must  be  quoted  as  a  familiar  expression,  and  not  as  a  rare  and 
curious  saying  with  which  the  tongue  is  unacquainted,  and  to 
which  it  takes  but  unskilfully  as  to  a  tune  not  heard  before. 
"  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly" — then,  in  the  fight 
in  the  wilderness,  you  will  be  master,  and  in  the  night  of  smiting 
and  scattering  you  will  be  able  to  speak  of  Resurrection  and 
Reunion.  Do  not  let  us  live  in  accidents,  in  transient  circum- 
stances and  in  variable  and  uncertain  relations.  We  have  a 
written  word  in  which  we  may  hide  ourselves,  we  have  a  testimony 
cut  up  into  sentences,  so  concise  that  a  child  can  quote  them,  and 
written  with  so  plain  and  keen  a  finger,  that  if  they  be  quoted  with 
the  earnestness  of  the  heart,  the  very  tempter  himself  will  reel 
under  the  shock  of  their  quotation. 

It  is  the  Shepherd  that  is  calm,  though  he  is  going  to  be 
"  smitten  :"  the  rod  is  lifted  up  that  will  fall  heavily  upon  him, 
and  whilst  he  yet  sees  it  uplifted  in  the  air,  he  says  to  the  flock, 
11  But  after  I  am  risen  again  I  will  go  before  you  into  Gali- 
lee." This  is  not  something  unexpected  or  unforeseen  :  an 
ancient  prophecy  is  about  to  be  fulfilled,  but  after  it  is  fulfilled  in 
what  we  may  term  its  harsher  aspects  and  meanings,  there  will 
come  the  broad  morning  of  Resurrection,  and  the  infinite  joy  of 
renewed,  continued,  and  endless  communion. 

I  am  afraid  that  some  of  us  do  but  meanly  live  from  day  to  day 
in  this  Christian  life.  In  one  sense  that  is  right — that  is,  so  far  as 
the  supply  of  immediate  and  peculiar  necessity  is  concerned  ;  but 
as  to  its  depth,  serenity,  solidity,  and  irrevocableness,  it  is  not 
something  buttressed  up  every  day  by  some  new  act  of  masonry  : 
it  lies  deeper  than  the  granite  at  the  heart  of  all  things.  Be  peace- 
ful, be  quiet,  be  filled  with  the  peace  of  God.  The  climate 
changes,  but  the  sun  is  the  same,  and  is  daily  relighted  by  the 
same  hand. 

Peter  answered  and  said  unto  him,  "  Though  all  men  shall  be 
offended  because  of  thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended. ' '  When 
men  boast,  such  exaggeration  is  itself  -a,  fall.  If  he  had  ended 
there,   he  would  have  ended  as  a  fallen  man.     There  is  a  time 


THREEFOLD   SINS.     .  229 


when  even  to  spsak  is  a  vulgarity  :  there  is  a  time  when  to  con- 
tradict is  black  blasphemy  :  there  are  times  when  men  ought  at 
least  to  think  in  quietness,  and  to  nurse  their  resolutions  in  the 
secrecy  of  unuttered  prayer.  Some  virtues  are  vices — that  is  to 
say,  their  exaggeration  becomes  vicious.  So  there  were  men  who 
prayed  so  much  that  they  never  prayed  at  all.  They  lost  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  they  did  not  know  its  meaning  ;  it  became  an  ex- 
ercise in  speech,  in  the  utterance  of  language  and  involved  sen- 
tences oft  repeated,  until  the  exercise  became  purely  mechanical, 
and  so  the  prayerful  words  were  prayerless  speeches,  and  God 
neither  heard  nor  answered. 

So  there  is  a  fast  that  becomes  feasting,  and  there  is  a  steadfast- 
ness that  becomes  bravado.  Let  us  take  care  lest  we  exaggerate 
our  virtues  into  vices. 

Jesus  Christ  performed  what  we  may  call  in  some  sense  the  last 
of  his  miracles.  It  was  in  sweet  and  tender  harmony  with  the 
grand  music  of  the  occasion.  Said  he,  "  Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
Peter,  that  this  night,  before  the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me 
thrice.  "  It  was  a  mental  miracle,  an  instance  of  that  prescience  of 
Christ  which  gave  him  his  infinite  superiority  above  all  other 
teachers.  We  have  seen  how  often  he  read  the  heart,  and  gave 
language  to  the  unuttered  thought,  and  brought  the  fire  of  shame 
to  the  cheek  of  men  who  supposed  that  their  heart-thoughts  were 
unread  and  unknown.  Here  Christ  repeats  the  mental  miracle  of 
foretelling  the  mental  condition  of  his  senior  disciple,  and  his  moral 
lapse  within  a  given  period  of  time.  How  emphatic  he  makes 
it  ;  there  is  music  in  the  word  "  thrice,"  it  is  a  rhetorical  word  ; 
all  happily  balanced  rhetorical  sentences  have  in  them  three  mem- 
bers :  so  there  is  to  be  here  an  emphasis  of  completeness,  har- 
mony, and  undeniableness  of  reality.  Thrice.  The  bad  man 
"walks,"  "stands,"  "sits" — so  it  must  ever  be.  Vice  must 
take  its  little  rhetorical  curriculum,  and  finish  its  bad  career  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  and  unchangeable  rule.  When  Peter 
denied  once,  he  might  have  recalled  almost  his  breath,  and 
denied  that  he  had  denied  ;  but  this  boasting  shall  be  humiliated, 
there  shall  be  left  no  doubt  or  hesitancy  on  the  part  of  Peter  him- 
self, that  the  denial  was  threefold,  complete — in  its  way  infinite. 

So  verily  it  has  been  in  the  history  of  the  whole  world.     We 


230  MATTHEW  XXVI.  31-46. 

are  not  left  in  doubt  as  to  our  sin.  It  is  thrice-sin,  fold  on  fold, 
and  to  deny  it  is  to  aggravate  it.  There  are  no  once-done  sins, 
"  Thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice." 

Peter  said  unto  him,  ' '  Though  I  should  die  with  thee,  yet  will 
I  not  deny  thee."  It  was  honest  ignorance  :  it  was  the  worst 
kind  of  ignorance,  the  ignorance  of  one's  own  heart.  Until  we 
know  what  our  heart  really  is,  we  can  have  no  conception  of  what 
Christ  proposes  to  do.  Young,  strong,  prosperous,  nourishing, 
with  the  colour  of  health  upon  our  cheeks,  and  with  the  energy  of 
health  in  our  step  and  our  mien,  we  cannot  understand  Christ's 
great  speech  to  the  heart.  He  must  reduce  us,  humble  us,  grind 
us  to  powder,  fill  us  with  shame,  drive  us  out  to  weep  bitterly,  and 
in  that  infinite  rain  of  penitence  he  may  say  something  to  us  that 
will  lead  us  to  God.  Meanwhile  he  let  the  boastful  man  have  the 
last  word  :  to  chide  such  ignorance  was  to  waste  energy  and  time. 
He  allowed  the  disciples  to  have  the  last  word.  On  other  oc- 
casions he  had  the  last  word,  but  was  this  a  time  for  chaffering, 
was  this  a  season  for  the  adjustment  of  relations,  or  for  the  asser- 
tion of  supremacies  ?  He  allows  the  boaster  to  have  the  last 
word,  that  having  his  own  word  ringing  in  his  ear,  he  may  the 
more  accurately  and  vividly  remember  it  when  the  stroke  falls  and 
his  tortuous  lips  utter  the  speech  of  denial. 

"Then  cometh  Jesus  with  them  into  a  place  called  Gethsem- 
ane,"  up  to  that  time  a  local  name.  Just  as  the  bread  we  have 
spoken  about  was  ordinary,  and  suddenly  became  "  body  ;"  and 
the  wine,  the  common  red  wine  mixed  with  water,  which  sud- 
denly under  a  touch  and  a  look  became  •'  blood," — so  this  place 
called  Gethsemane  can  never  hence  on  through  all  the  ages  change 
its  name.  It  was  an  olive-yard,  and  in  it  was  the  olive- press. 
The  olive  was  the  emblem  of  peace.  Under  that  great  solemn 
passover  moon  there  bent  down  One  in  infinite  agony  who  is  our 
Olive,  our  Peace.  Let  us  repeat  these  words  to  the  soul,  till 
they  become  tender  by  gracious  familiarity.  "  He  is  our  Peace  : 
he  hath  made  both  one." 

Then  saith  he  unto  them,  "  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful, 
even  unto  death. ' '  That  is  the  time  for  a  man  to  answer  the 
question  whether  he  has  a  soul.     That  is  not  a  question  for  intel- 


NO    COMPANIONSHIP.  231 

lectual  debate  or  metaphysical  inquiry,  or  for  the  sharp  exchange 
of  skilfully  chosen  words.  When  such  debate  goes  on,  the  soul 
may  well  have  retired  into  some  secret  place  to  cry  over  the 
degradation  to  which  it  has  been  subjected  by  the  superficial  in- 
quiry. There  is  a  time  when  no  other  words  will  express  a  man's 
consciousness  and  experience  but  .  .  .  "  my  soul."  Speak  to  a 
man  in  those  educational  hours  and  a  great  pain  goes  through  him 
like  a  dart  of  fire.  Then  dare  you  ask  him  if  man  has  a  soul  / 
There  are  bodily  troubles  and  there  are  troubles  of  the  heart,  and 
are  there  not  griefs  which  are  peculiarly  agonies  of  the  soul  ?  For 
every  blood -drop  we  are  implicated  in  the  fierce  endurance  and 
trial.  Let  not  those  come  into  this  sanctuary  who  have  no  great 
woes,  but  into  it  there  will  come  an  innumerable  and  reverent  host 
of  hearts  that  have  known  the  bitterness  of  sorrow  and  the  grief  of 
death.  Do  not  suppose  that  the  soul's  existence  is  to  be  proved 
by  words.  There  will  one  day  come  into  your  life  a  pain  which 
nothing  but  the  soul  could  feel.  Once  felt  it  can  never  be  for- 
gotten. Wasted  are  those  hours  which  we  spend  with  men  whose 
souls  have  never  been  tried.  It  is  an  exchange  of  words,  a 
bantering  of  foolish  sentences,  one  against  the  other.  Let  men 
meet  who  understand  one  another  by  the  masonry  of  a  common 
grief,  and  they  will  tell  those  who  are  outside  how  true  it  is,  not 
only  that  man  has  a  soul,  but  is  one. 

This  is  not  a  complaining  voice.  We  have  never  heard  the  Mas- 
ter complain.  He  has  stated  his  circumstances,  he  has  told  those 
who  would  follow  him,  without  sufficiently  counting  the  cost,  that 
he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head,  but  he  announced  the  circum- 
stance with  a  cheerfulness  of  a  divine  content.  Now  he  brings 
into  his  speech  a  tone  we  have  never  heard  before.  "  My  soul  is 
exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death."  Had  he  been  doing 
wrong  r>  No.  Had  he  changed  his  course  ?  No.  Was  he  pro- 
posing to  the  world  some  new  and  forbidden  line  of  liberty  and 
delight  ?  No.  But  the  purpose  of  his  own  heart  is  ripening,  and 
the  divine  decree  is  coming  to  the  utterance  of  its  last  syllable, 
and  the  prophecy  which  has  been  the  poetry  and  the  light  of  the 
world  is  now  about  to  pass  into  stern  and  solemn  history,  and  in 
that  transition  this  agony  is  felt. 

Yet  how  human  he  is.      ' '  Tarry  ye  here, ' '  said  he,  ' '  and  watch 


232  •  MA  TTHE  W  XX  VI.  31  -46. 

with  me."  There  are  times  when  even  a  little  child  would  be  a 
defence  lor  a  strong  man  !  There  are  hours  of  fear  in  which, 
could  we  but  feel  a  child's  little  touch,  we  should  be  men  again  ! 
There  is  a  loneliness  which  the  soul  cannot  survive  ;  it  must  fall 
before  it  like  a  victim,  though,  being  true  in  itself,  and  gracious  in 
its  purpose,  it  will  rise  again,  and  the  great  multitude  shall  gather 
around  it  to  maintain  with  it  and  through  it  eternal  fellow- 
ship. 

He  would  have  with  him  the  very  men  who  were  going  to  flee 
away  from  him.  He  could  only  build  with  such  materials  laid  to 
his  hand.  It  was  rotten  material — sometimes  we  put  out  our 
hand  to  a. yielding  sod,  thinking  that  perhaps  it  will  not  altogether 
give  way  till  we  get  higher  up  through  its  uncertain  help.  These 
men  were  about  to  flee  away  from  him,  but  he  would  just  have 
them  remain  to  give  him  such  little  comfort  as  was  in  the  power 
of  man  to  give  under  circumstances  so  tragic.  You  have  been 
under  the  weight  of  long  dark  cold  nights  of  loneliness,  when  a 
child's  little  silvery  laugh  would  have  made  you  heroic  as  an  army 
of  soldiers.  In  such  nights  you  have  felt  the  need  and  the  value 
of  a  little  human  sympathy.  Oh  the  touch  of  a  friend's  hand,  the 
look  of  a  loving  eye,  the  utterance  of  a  voice  of  trust  and  loyalty 
—these  would  have  been  right  eloquent  in  certain  periods  of  in- 
tolerable silence  ! 

"  He  went  a  little  further  and  fell  on  his  face."  There  are 
weights  that  crush  men  down  so  I  They  do  not  then  ask  what  is 
the  proper  attitude  in  prayer — you  will  be  told,  you  will  be  put 
into  it,  there  is  a  force  that  will  attitudinize  you  without  any  study 
on  your  part,  a  mighty  terror- force  that  will  dash  you  on  your 
face  !  In  such  circumstances  ask  a  man  as  to  the  legitimacy  and 
utility  of  prayer  !  Such  are  the  circumstances  for  the  answering 
of  such  questions.  In  one  case  you  will  discover  whether  man 
has  a  soul,  in  the  other  case  you  will  discover  whether  it  is  any 
good  to  pray.  The  question  is  answered  from  within  ;  the  reply 
does  not  come  as  the  answer  to  the  long,  connected,  and  subtle 
argument,  but  within  you  breathes  the  suppliant  that  will  not  be 
silenced,  in  your  soul  is  the  intercessor  that  will  pray.  Do  not 
discuss  these  questions  about  the  soul  and  prayer  in  cold  blood 
and  in  cold  words.  Leave  such  great  inquiries  to  be  answered  by 
the  tragedies  of  your  personal  experience. 


OUR  FATHER  AND  MY  FATHER.  233 

"  And  he  went  a  little  further  and  fell  on  his  face  and  prayed." 
This  is  the  Lord's  prayer  !  O  my  Father" — why  that  is  the 
prayer  he  taught  us  long  ago — just  the  same  !  What  said  he  when 
we  asked  him,  "  Lord,  teach  us  how  to  pray?"  Said  he,  "  Our 
Father."  Now,  when  he  has  to  pray  himself,  what  says  he  ?  "  O 
my  Father."  It  is  the  same  Jesus  :  He  is  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, for  ever.  What,  was  God  a  Father  still  P  When  the  Shep- 
herd was  being  "  smitten,"  when  the  flock  was  being  "  scattered," 
when  the  night  was  getting  colder,  deeper,  darker,  when  in  the  wind 
was  the  breath  of  pursuing  hell,  was  God  still  Father  ?  By  this 
standard  let  us  try  ourselves.  If  the  great  Ruler  of  the  universe 
come  to  us  in  sunshine  only,  mighty,  grand,  majestic,  royal,  we 
have  lived  the  wrong  way  :  we  should  have  lived  up  into  tender- 
ness and  filial  trust  and  gracious  expectation,  and  the  deep  happy 
assurance  that  how  dark  soever  be  the  clouds,  they  are  the  dust  of 
our  Father's  feet. 

Now  he  is  shut  up  and  alone  with  God.  There  are  times  when 
we  must  keep  our  dearest  companions  at  a  little  distance.  There 
are  seasons  when  a  man  must  be  as  if  he  were  the  only  man  in 
God's  universe,  and  as  though  face-to-face  speech  with  the  Father 
could  alone  determine  and  overrule  the  crisis  of  agony.  We  pray 
a  certain  kind  of  prayer  in  the  great  congregation,  a  necessary  and 
beautiful  prayer,  the  expression  of  common  praises  and  common 
wants.  But  there  is  another  kind  of  prayer  which  none  but  God 
may  hear.  If  it  be  heard  by  our  mother  even  it  will  be  spoiled. 
If  we  could  know  that  the  friendliest  ear  were  overhearing  it  and 
catching  the  words  before  they  got  to  God's  ear,  we  should  feel  as 
if  the  life-stream  had  been  diverted  and  had  changed  its  course  and 
gone  on  a  wrong  career. 

What  are  your  troubles — are  they  but  transient  aches  and  pains, 
small  ailments  for  which  the  handiest  doctor  has  an  immediate 
remedy  ?  Then  you  cannot  follow  into  this  great  darkness  of  the 
passover-night.  But  is  there  bitterness  of  soul  on  any  account 
whatsoever,  real  feeling  in  the  innermost  chambers,  so  to  say,  of 
the  soul  ? — then  the  Lord's  prayer  is  written  here  for  our  use  ac- 
cording to  the  measure  of  our  necessity.  He  will  have  the  great 
harmony  established  ;  the  great  harmony  of  the  universe  takes  all 
its  utterance  and  expression  from  the  divine  will.  The  moment 
you  have  two  wills  in  the  universe,  you  break  up  its  harmony  : 


234  MATTHEW  XXVI.  31-46. 

there  can  be  in  a  harmonic  universe  but  one  will,  and  that  is 
God s  ;  our  will  must  fall  into  it,  become  part  of  it,  and  must  ex- 
press it  in  such  phrase  and  accent  as  our  circumstances  enable  us 
to  realise. 

Jesus  Christ  will  now  dispense  with  miracles  :  he  could  have 
performed  a  miracle  by  prayer,  but  he  will  not.  This  shall  not 
be  done  by  spears  and  swords  and  angelic  hosts  :  it  shall  be  a 
question  of  will.  So  the  miracles  might  well  have  ended  there, 
and  have  all  sunk  in  the  majestic  cry,  "  Thy  will  be  done." 
There  is  no  further  prayer  :  that  is  the  ali-inclusivs  and  all-cul- 
minating desire  and  petition.  Yet  the  angels  will  come.  We 
read  elsewhere  that  an  angel  came  and  comforted  him.  Surely  we 
have  heard  of  that  angel  before — where  did  we  hear  the  rustling 
of  those  wings  before?  In  the  wilderness!  "Then  the  devil 
leaveth  him,  and  behold,  angels  came  and  ministered  unto  him." 
And  here  in  Gethsemane,  a  bleaker  wilderness,  a  drearier  desert, 
when  his  soul  was  afire  with  an  infinite  agony,  and  when  out  of  his 
skin  there  dropped  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood,  behold  an 
angel  came  and  strengthened  him  ! 

The  universe  is  one  ;  who  could  live  in  a  universe  that  was 
nothing  but  what  he  could  see  ?  What,  the  universe  no  bigger 
than  my  sight,  my  power  of  vision  and  capacity  of  intaking  and 
realization  ?  It  were  a  mockery,  not  a  universe.  When  you  tell 
me  the  air  is  full  of  angels  and  the  great  blue  heaven  is  an  infinite 
church,  and  that  all  things  live,  that  God  is  over  all,  blessed  for 
ever — you  satisfy  something  that  is  in  me,  you  answer  an  unuttered 
prayer  ! 


SELECTED  NOTES. 

"  Here,  then,  we  have  two  subjects  of  contemplation  distinctly  marked 
out  for  us.  1.  The  irreparable  Past.  2.  The  available  Future.  The 
words  of  Christ  are  not  like  the  words  of  other  men  :  his  sentences  do 
not  end  with  the  occasion  which  called  them  forth  ;  every  sentence  of 
Christ's  is  a  deep  principle  of  human  life,  and  it  is  so  with  these  sen- 
tences :  '  Sleep  on  now  ' — that  is  a  principle  ;  '  Rise  up,  and  let  us  be 
going  ' — that  is  another  principle.  The  principle  contained  in  '  Sleep  on 
now  '  is  this,  that  the  past  is  irreparable,  and  after  a  certain  moment  wak- 


NOTES.  235 

ing  will  do  no  good.  You  may  improve  the  future,  the  past  is  gone 
beyond  recovery.  As  to  all  that  is  gone  by,  so  far  as  the  hope  of  alter- 
ing it  goes,  you  may  sleep  on  and  take  your  rest  ;  there  is  no  power  in 
earth  or  heaven  that  can  undo  what  has  once  been  done." — (Robertson.) 
"  Here  seems  to  be  a  contradiction  :  he  bids  them  rest,  and  yet  by-and- 
bye  he  says,  '  Arise,  let  us  go  hence.'  Some  answer  that  he  speaks  by 
way  of  upbraiding  and  not  of  permitting  ;  but  Mark  makes  it  plain,  that 
after  this  speech,  staying  awhile,  he  stirred  them  up  again,  saying,  '  Let 
us  go  hence.'  For  having  bidden  them  sleep,  he  says,  as  after  some  in- 
terim granted,  It  sufSceth,  and  then  the  hour  cometh,  etc." — (Augus- 
tine.) "  Even  as  water  may  be  pierced  with  a  weapon,  and  so  likewise 
the  fire  and  the  air,  yet  they  cannot  be  said  to  be  wounded  ;  so  the  body 
of  Christ  might  be  beaten,  hanged  up,  and  crucified,  yet  these  passions 
in  his  body  did  lose  the  nature  of  passions,  and  the  virtue  of  his  body, 
without  the  sense  of  pain,  received  the  violence  of  pain  raging  against 
him.  The  Lord's  body  indeed  had  been  sensible  of  pain — if  our  body 
had  been  of  the  same  nature  to  go  upon  the  water,  and  not  to  make  im- 
pression with  our  footsteps,  and  to  go  through  doors  that  were  shut.  But 
seeing  this  nature  is  proper  only  to  the  Lord's  body,  why  is  the  flesh  con- 
ceived by  the  Holy  Ghost  judged  by  the  nature  of  a  common  body  ?  He 
had  a  body  indeed  to  suffer,  but  he  had  no  nature  to  grieve." — (Hilary.) 


xc. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  grant  us  thy  peace.  The  peace  of  God  passeth  all 
understanding.  Great  peace  have  they  that  love  thy  law.  O  that  we  had 
hearkened  unto  thy  commandments,  then  had  our  peace  flowed  like  a 
river,  and  our  righteousness  had  been  as  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Jesus, 
Lamb  of  God,  Saviour  of  the  world,  grant  us  thy  peace.  Not  as  the 
world  giveth  dost  thou  give — say  unto  us,  "  Peace  be  unto  you,"  and 
there  shall  be  a  great  calm.  Thou  art  the  Prince  of  peace,  the  Son  of 
peace,  the  Spirit  of  peace  :  may  we  know  that  thou  art  present  in  the  soul 
by  the  peace  that  reigns  there.  Deliver  us  from  all  quietness  that  is 
deceitful,  save  us  from  lulling  our  souls  into  unholy  slumber,  and  grant 
us  thy  peace,  thine  only,  too  deep  to  be  measured,  too  calm  to  be  ex- 
pressed in  words. 

We  have  sinned  against  thee,  and  therein  has  our  peace  been  destroyed. 
Truly  we  can  say,  there  is  no  peace  unto  the  wicked.  We  have  felt  the 
sting  of  conscience,  the  torment  of  remorse,  the  gloom  of  guilt  and 
despair,  but  in  the  night  of  our  sorrow  and  woe  thou  hast  sent  unto  us 
angels  of  light  with  promises  of  pardon,  and  we  have  been  led  to  the 
cross  on  which  there  died  thine  only-begotten  Son,  our  Saviour  and 
Priest  and  Surety.  He  is  our  Peace,  he  hath  made  both  one.  He  is  our 
Daysman,  and  he  has  laid  his  hand  upon  thee  and  upon  us,  and  has  made 
reconciliation.  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness  ;  we  cannot  penetrate 
it  with  our  understanding,  we  cannot  receive  it  into  our  minds,  bufwe 
can  feel  it  in  the  heart,  our  love  answers  it,  and  the  appeal  of  thy  grace 
is  replied  to  by  the  cry  of  our  penitence. 

We  have  come  to  worship  God  and  to  eat  bread  at  his  table.  He 
establishes  the  feet  of  his  saints,  and  watches  the  outgoings  of  them  that 
are  his.  Behold  we  have  in  our  hearts  the  sacred  vow,  upon  our  tongues 
is  the  holy  word,  and  in  our  understanding  is  the  conviction  of  thy  pres- 
ence and  grace.  We  have  done  the  things  we  ought  not  to  have  done, 
we  have  left  undone  the  things  that  we  ought  to  have  done,  and  when 
we  say  there  is  no  health  in  us,  we  feel  how  dead  we  are.  We  do  not 
interrupt  our  confession  with  excuses  and  pleas  ;  we  fall  down  before 
thee,  infirm,  broken,  shattered,  without  one  word  of  self-defence.  Thou 
knowest  our  frame,  thou  rememberest  that  we  are  dust,  a  wind  that 
cometh  for  a  little  time  and  then  passeth  away.  Thou  wilt  not  thunder 
upon  us  with  thy  great  power,  thou  wilt  not  magnify  thine  almightiness 
in  our  destruction,  thou  wilt  rather  lift  up  thine  omnipotence  in  pledge 


THE   TEXT.  237 

of  thy  pity,  and  in  the  great  power  of  God  shall  we  find  the  tabernacle  of 
his  grace.  In  wrath  remember  mercy  :  remember  how  frail  we  are, 
remember  that  we  are  of  yesterday  and  know  nothing  :  see  how  few  are 
our  years,  a  handful  at  the  most,  and  pity  us  and  love  us  with  continual 
compassion. 

We  bless  thee  for  the  year  now  closing  around  us  as  a  church  and  peo- 
ple. Thou  hast  brought  us  to  the  day  of  temporary  farewell  :  looking 
back  upon  all  the  past  we  bless  thee  with  full  heart,  we  thank  thee  for 
every  revelation  of  thy  truth,  for  all  the  light  which  has  gleamed  upon  us 
from  the  upper  places,  and  for  all  the  comfort  that  has  strengthened  and 
encouraged  our  life.  This  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in 
our  eyes.  Thou  wilt  conduct  us  to  the  end,  thine  hand  of  defence  will 
never  be  withdrawn  ;  when  heart  and  flesh  do  fail,  thou  wilt  be  the 
strength  of  our  heart  and  our  portion  for  ever. 

Pity  all  that  has  been  amiss.  Come  with  thine  infinite  forgiveness 
upon  every  guilty  deed,  and  from  the  cross  of  thy  Son  our  Saviour, 
absolve  us  from  all  sin.  Wherein  we  have  been  good  and  have  done 
good,  to  thy  name  alone  be  the  praise. 

Help  us  to  resume  our  work  with  all  thankfulness  of  energy  and  of 
hope,  with  invincible  strength,  with  perfect  consecration  of  mind  and 
heart.     Thus  may  we  spend  the  years  and  prepare  for  the  great  eternity. 

Comfort  all  that  are  sore  of  heart,  speak  a  message  of  encouragement 
to  those  who  need  to  be  touched  gently,  or  they  will  surely  die.  To  the 
stranger  within  our  gate  speak  home  words  that  shall  touch  the  heart 
and  comfort  the  life  with  a  new  solace. 

Pardon  our  sins,  forgive  our  enemies,  include  within  thy  love  our 
friends  who  are  absent  from  us  but  who  are  longing  to  hasten  back. 
Take  up  the  lambs  in  thine  arms,  thou  Shepherd  of  Israel  ;  save  with 
thine  almightiness  those  who  cannot  save  themselves,  and  when  the  dis- 
cipline of  life  is  perfected,  may  we  begin  the  study  and  the  service  of  im- 
mortality.    Amen. 

Matthew  xxvi.  47-75. 

47.  And  while  he  yet  spake,  lo,  Judas,  one  of  the  twelve,  came,  and 
with  him  a  great  multitude  with  swords  and  staves,  from  the  chief  priests 
and  elders  of  the  people. 

48.  Now  he  that  betrayed  him  gave  them  a  sign,  saying,  Whomsoever 
I  shall  kiss,  that  same  is  he  :  hold  him  fast. 

49.  And  forthwith  he  came  to  Jesus,  and  said,  Hail,  master  ;  and 
kissed  him. 

50.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Friend  (comrade),  wherefore  art  thou 
come  ?    Then  came  they,  and  laid  hands  on  Jesus,  and  took  him. 

51.  And,  behold,  one  of  them  which  were  with  Jesus  stretched  out  his 
hand,  and  drew  his  sword,  and  struck  a  servant  of  the  high  priest's,  and 
smote  off  his  ear. 


238  MATTHEW  XXVI.  47-75. 

52.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  him,  Put  up  again  thy  sword  into  his  place  : 
for  all  they  that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword. 

53.  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall 
presently  give  me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  (the  possible  and 
the  impossible)  ? 

54.  But  how  then  shall  the  scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  thus  it  must  be  ? 

55.  In  that  same  hour  said  Jesus  to  the  multitudes,  Are  ye  come  out 
as  against  a  thief  (as  against  a  robber  with  swords  and  clubs)  with  swords 
and  staves  for  to  take  me  ?  I  sat  (a  sign  of  authority)  daily  with  you 
teaching  in  the  temple,  and  ye  laid  no  hold  on  me. 

56.  But  all  this  was  done,  that  the  scriptures  of  the  prophets  might  be 
fulfilled.     Then  all  the  disciples  forsook  him,  and  fled. 

57.  And  they  that  had  laid  hold  on  Jesus  led  him  away  to  Caiaphas 
(already  committed  to  the  policy  of  condemnation,  John  xi.  49)  the  high 
priest,  where  the  scribes  and  the  elders  were  assembled. 

58.  But  Peter  followed  him  afar  off  unto  the  high  priest's  palace,  and 
went  in,  and  sat  with  the  servants,  to  see  the  end. 

59.  Now  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  and  all  the  council,  sought  (a  word 
which  implies  a  continued  process  of  seeking)  false  witness  against  Jesus, 
to  put  him  to  death  ; 

60.  But  found  none  :  yea,  though  many  false  witnesses  came,  yet  found 
they  none.     At  the  last  came  two  false  witnesses, 

61.  And  said,  This  fellow  said,  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple  of  God, 
and  to  build  it  in  three  days. 

62.  And  the  high  priest  arose,  and  said  unto  him,  Answerest  thou 
nothing?  what  is  it  which  these  witness  against  thee  ? 

63.  But  Jesus  held  his  peace.  And  the  high  priest  answered  and  said 
unto  him,  I  adjure  thee  by  the  living  God,  that  thou  tell  us  whether  thou 
be  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God. 

64.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Thou  hast  said  :  nevertheless  I  say  unto  you, 
Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of  man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power 
(the  power),  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven. 

65.  Then  the  high  priest  rent  his  clothes,  saying,  He  hath  spoken  blas~ 
phemy  :  what  further  need  have  we  of  witnesses  ?  behold,  now  ye  have 
hard  his  blasphemy. 

66.  What  think  ye  ?    They  answered  and  said,  He  is  guilty  of  death. 

67.  Then  did  they  spit  in  his  face,  and  buffeted  him  ;  and  others  smote 
him  with  the  palms  of  their  hands, 

68.  Saying,  Prophecy  unto  us,  thou  Christ,  Who  is  he  that  smote  thee  ? 

69.  Now  Peter  sat  without  in  the  palace  :  and  a  damsel  came  unto  him, 
saying,  Thou  also  wast  with  Jesus  of  Galilee. 

70.  But  he  denied  before  them  all,  saying,  I  know  not  what  thou 
sayest. 

71.  And  when  he  was  gone  out  into  the  porch,  another  maid  saw  him, 
and  said  unto  them  that  were  there,  This  fellow  was  also  with  Jesus  of 
Nazareth. 


THE  PRINCIPLE   OF  SUBMISSION.  239 

72.  And  again  he  denied  with  an  oath,  I  do  not  know  the  man.     . 

73.  And  after  a  while  came  unto  him  they  that  stood  by,  and  said  to 
Peter,  Surely  thou  also  art  one  of  them  ;  for  thy  speech  bewayeth  thee 
(the  Galilean  patois  was  probably  stronger  when  he  spoke  under  the  influ- 
ence of  strong  excitement). 

74.  Then  began  he  to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying,  I  know  not  the  man. 
And  immediately  the  (the  Greek  has  no  article)  cock  crew. 

75.  And  Peter  remembered  the  word  of  Jesus,  which  said  unto  him, 
Before  the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice.  And  he  went  out,  and 
wept  bitterly. 

THE  ARREST  OF  CHRIST. 

OUR  concern  is  to  know  the  spirit  and  conduct  of  Jesus  in 
this  transaction.  How  does  he  hold  himself,  by  what  spirit 
is  he  animated,  how  does  he  stand  the  stress  of  his  infinite  trial  ? 
We  have  little  to  do  with  the  rabble  gathered  around  him  :  we 
have  only  to  do  with  the  ruffian  band  in  so  far  as  it  shows,  in 
luminous  contrast,  the  spirit  and  service  of  Jesus  Christ.  Observe 
what  a  grasp  of  principles  Jesus  Christ  displayed  in  this  culminating 
hour  of  his  life.  There  are  crises  in  which  men  are  obliged  to 
look  about  them  for  their  principles.  There  are  occasions  upon 
which  men  of  wit  can  answer  surprising  assault ;  there  are  other 
days  and  nights  wherein  a  man  has  no  wealth  if  he  be  not  rich  in 
doctrine,  principle,  and  conviction.  Riches  of  an  earthly  kind  make 
themselves  wings  and  flee  away,  but  there  are  unsearchable  riches 
that  reveal  themselves  in  glittering  brightness  when  the  soul  would 
otherwise  be  in  its  poorest  and  most  painful  condition. 

There  was  one  impetuous  man  on  the  side  of  Christ,  who 
stretched  out  his  hand  and  drew  his  sword  and  struck  a  servant  of 
the  high  priest  and  smote  off  his  ear.  That  was  a  little  man  :  he 
mistook  the  range  and  scope  cf  energy — he. was  the  victim  of  the 
continual  sophism  which  debases  our  thinking  and  causes  our  action 
to  palpitate  with  vicious  life,  that  it  is  necessary  to  do  something. 
Jesus  found  a  place  in  life  for  Simon.  Jesus  Christ  showed  what 
could  be  done  by  submission.  Peter  was  anxious  to  meet  force 
with  force,  a  sophism  so  plausible  that  statesmen  have  been 
victimised  by  it,  and  men  of  every  age  have  fallen  down  to  wor- 
ship that  golden  calf.  It  seems  to  be  born  in  us,  does  the  feeling 
that  force  must  be  met  by  force.     There  is  a  force  of  passiveness, 


240  MATTHEW  XXVI.  47-75. 

there  is  an  energy  of  silence,  there  is  the  magnificent  retort  of  non- 
resistance,  which  puzzles  men  of  common  mind  and  ordinary 
heart,  the  very  mystery  of  heroism  to  those  who  mistake  noise  for 
music  and  tumult  for  power. 

The  answer  which  Jesus  Christ  made  upon  the  occasion  showed 
that  he  was  not  too  absorbed  to  neglect  even  the  trifling  incidents 
connected  with  the  infinite  tragedy.  "  Put  up  again  thy  sword 
into  his  place."  That  would  have  been  a  mere  instruction,  but 
following  that  instruction  is  the  philosophy  of  civilization,  the  key 
of  all  definite  and  lasting  progress,  the  very  glory  of  human  states- 
manship and  political  and  spiritual  security.  Who  then  could 
have  expected  another  gospel  ?  who  could  have  said  that  even 
upon  so  trifling  an  occasion  Christ  would  have  interjected  a  revela- 
tion that  would  gleam  in  ever-growing  brightness  upon  the  mind 
of  the  ages  ?  Yet  that  was  exactly  what  he  did.  Not  only  did  he 
give  the  instruction,  "  Put  up  again  thy  sword  into  his  place," 
but  he  gave  the  reason  for  the  instruction,  namely,  "  For  all  they 
that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword."  If  he  had 
never  said  anything  in  his  life  but  that  one  word,  he  would  have 
laid  down  a  rule  that  the  world  would  have  grown  up  to  in  all  its 
education,  disappointment,  falling,  and  failure  which  it  has  ex- 
perienced. We  pass  over  the  words  lightly  as  we  pass  over  all  the 
grandest  words  ever  spoken  by  the  human  tongue.  We  are  so 
occupied  with  the  anecdote,  the  moving  panorama,  the  startling 
incident,  that  we  overlook  the  philosophy  of  the  grand,  moral  rev- 
elation, and  hasten  on,  like  impetuous  Peter,  to  "  see  the  end." 

Jesus  Christ  did  not  attempt  to  snatch  a  transient  victory. 
"  Suppose  you,  Peter,  could  cut  down  all  these  men  to  the 
ground,  it  would  amount  to  nothing  :  their  progeny  will  come 
up  :  evil  has  an  indestructible  posterity,  if  it  be  encountered  only 
by  force.  There  must  be  another  method  of  attacking  this  disease  : 
it  cannot  be  cut  down  with  cold  steel,  it  must  be  met  by  heavenly 
ministries,  by  spiritual  and  regenerative  influences — put  up  again 
thy  sword  into  his  place."  It  could  do  nothing  in  the  spiritual 
kingdom  ;  when  force  meets  force,  death  falls  upon  all  who  use  it. 
There  are  triumphs,  there  are  defeats,  and  there  are  failures  that 
are  successes  :  do  not  suppose  that  to  smite  down  an  enemy  is  to 
overcome  the  enmity.  One  wonders  that  men,  reading  these  great 
sentences,   so  great  yet  so  small — that  they  do  not  instantly  un- 


THE  SCRIPTURES  FULFILLED.  24.1 

cover  in  the  presence  of  a  Peasant  who  laid  down  in  terms  so 
luminous  and  definite  the  philosophy  which  underlies  every  be- 
neficent and  stable  civilization. 

Jesus  Christ  reminded  Peter  that  all  that  was  happening  was  in 
fulfilment  of  the  Scriptures.  "But  how  then  shall  the  Scriptures 
be  fulfilled,  that  thus  it  must  be?"  Connect  yourself  with 
Destiny  if  you  would  be  calm  :  do  not  live  in  the  spluttering  and 
dying  anecdotes  of  the  passing  day.  Consider  that  all  things  are 
elect  of  God,  and  move  you  in  the  current  of  His  foreknowledge 
and  forearrangement  of  things.  You  will  be  troubled,  tossed  about 
with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  if  you  are  living  only  from  day  to 
day,  and  upon  the  breath  which  is  breathed  from  the  human 
mouth.  We  must  live  in  the  eternity  of  God  if  we  would  be  quiet 
amid  all  the  storm  and  stress  of  life.  There  are  some  who  resent 
the  idea  of  a  supreme  will,  or  must  boast  of  the  predominance  of 
Fate.  This  is  a  doctrine  you  cannot  escape  :  your  life  is  either 
gripped  and  driven  by  Fate,  or  must  be  ruled  and  blessed  and 
sanctified  by  a  Supreme  Will. 

But  observe  how  evilly  do  they  think  and  speak,  who  suppose 
that,  having  ignored  the  reigning  will  of  God,  they  can  rush  into 
the  cold  and  chilling  sanctuary  of  impassable  and  inexorable 
Fate.  Life,  come  upon  me  as  thou  wilt,  I  live  in  the  will  of  the 
Father;  whatever  happens  to  me  happens  that  the  Scriptures  must 
be  fulfilled.  The  writing  is  old,  and  is  rewritten  every  day — even- 
life  is  a  revelation,  every  breath  is  a  miracle.  Stand  thou,  O 
living  man,  in  this  sanctuary,  and  no  fool  shall  be  able  to  throw  a 
stone  into  the  depths  of  thy  peace.  Do  not  suppose  that  men 
come  around  you  accidentally  with  swords  and  staves  :  they  know 
not  what  they  do  :  if  your  purpose  is  right,  if  your  prayer  is  pure, 
if  your  face  is  set  steadfastly,  even  with  hardness,  towards  the 
Jerusalem  of  your  destiny,  you  will  be  an  ever-quiet  and  all- 
quieting  presence  in  life. 

The  mistaken  thinker  is  always  caught  in  his  own  snare.  Those  • 
who  would  escape  from  Will,  fall  into  the  arms  of  iron  Fate,  and ; 
those  who  decline  to  be  guided  by  the  Scriptures,  which  were  ful- 
filled in  the  case  of  Christ,  go  straight  over  to  another  revelation- 
which  is  incomplete  without  the  written  one.  You  cannot  escape 
from  prayer.  You  can  run  away  from  the  altar  of  the  church,  red ! 
with  blood  glowing  with  fire,  but  you  go  to  an  altar  of  ice,   and ' 


242  MATTHEW  XXVI.  47-75. 

breathe  out  your  soul's  wish  into  a  dead  ear.  Still  you  pray. 
You  run  away  from  the  living  paternal  beneficent  will,  and  try  to 
quiet  yourself  with  such  narcotics  as  are  handed  to  you  by  the  iron 
hand  of  unpitying  Fate. 

One  of  the  ablest  minds  that  ever  led  the  sceptical  thinking  of 
his  time — I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  refer  to  Thomas  Paine, 
a  resolute  and  energetic  thinker,  and  a  man  not  without  benefi- 
cence of  purpose  and  patriotism  of  heart — has  laid  down  the 
sophistical  and  monstrous  proposition,  that  a  revelation  can  only 
be  made  to  one  man,  that  no  revelation  has  been  made  to  us, 
therefore  the  revelation  which  Christ  claimed  to  be  fulfilled  in  his 
history  was  no  revelation  to  after  ages.  How  truly  has  every 
Achilles  a  vulnerable  heel  !  A  revelation  granted  only  to  one 
man  ?  But  there  is  a  daily  revelation,  there  is  a  lasting  revelation 
of  nature,  providence,  history,  laiv,  and  when  this  lasting  revelation, 
which  comes  to  repeat  its  story  every  day,  confirms  the  revelation 
that  was  given  to  minds  and  hearts  in  the  ancient  time,  the  revela- 
tion of  to-day  repeats  in  modern  tones,  and  with  present-day  ap- 
plications, all  that  was  true  in  the  immemorial  time. 

But  the  Scriptures  must  be  fulfilled.  Fulfilment  of  Scripture  is 
the  rewriting  of  Scripture.  No  promise  can  be  realized  without 
being  written  over  again  in  its  very  realization.  It  is  because 
human  life  takes  up  and  repronounces  divine  words  that  the  Bible 
keeps  its  hold  upon  human  confidence  and  human  love.  Were 
it  an  old  book,  in  the  sense  of  speaking  terms  that  have  no  im- 
mediate meaning,  it  would  by  mere  lapse  and  effusion  of  time 
disable  itself  from  holding  supremacy  over  human  thinking.  It  is 
because  its  words  are  old  as  eternity,  yet  new  as  the  present  morn- 
ing, that  the  Bible  is  what  it  is  and  where  it  is. 

So  Jesus  Christ  rested  in  the  fulfilment  of  Scripture.  He  laid 
his  hand  upon  Destiny  as  ruled  by  a  personal  Will,  and  getting 
such  hold  of  such  principles,  he  was  calm  to  apparent  passionless- 
ness.  Once  indeed  there  was  a  ripple  upon  his  placidity  :  said 
he,  "  Are  ye  come  out  as  against  a  thief  ?"  His  soul  was  stung 
there.  He  knew  that  was  the  way  thieves  were  taken,  and  to  be 
thought  a  thief,  to  have  all  evil  names  fastened  upon  him,  did 
seem  to  sting  him  into  a  question  that  might  have  in  it  one  spark 
of  sacred  resentment.  Or  was  he  mocking  the  fools,  was  he 
showing  them  to  what  an  unnecessary  expenditure  of  strength  and 


THE  POSSIBLE    AND    THE  IMPOSSIBLE.  243 

force  they  were  going  ?  Was  he  a  man  who  would  run  away  ? 
Judas  indeed  said  to  those  who  were  with  him,  "  Hold  him  fast," 
probably  not  through  any  spirit  of  cruelty,  but  where  a  man  lays 
hold  upon  the  lightning  he  must  hold  it  fast  if  he  would  keep  it. 
Was  there  not  some  subtle  tribute  in  this  very  exhortation 
addressed  by  Judas  to  the  ruffian  band  ?  Did  he  not  in  this  one 
exhortation  seem  to  say,  "  I  know  his  strength  :  I  have  seen  his 
power  :  there  is  no  limit  to  his  resource.  This  is  no  ordinary 
culprit  or  criminal,  if  so  we  may  describe  him.  Having  touched 
him,  surround  him,  draw  a  cordon  round  his  life,  or  he  will 
surely  elude  you  ?" 

Sometimes  men  pay  compliments  unconsciously,  as  many  men 
pray  to  a  God  they  profess  to  ignore.  Instinct  may  be  relied 
upon  more  than  argument :  the  inborn  impulse  of  the  heart  will 
assert  itself  above  all  controversy  and  logic  and  intellectual  creed. 
So  the  time  will  come  when  even  Judas  shall  add  a  laurel  to  the 
chaplet  which  binds  the  temples  of  the  Saviour,  and  therein  shall 
the  word  be  fulfilled,  "  His  enemies  will  I  clothe  with  shame,  but 
upon  himself  shall  the  crown  flourish."  I  know  not  but  that 
when  Judas  himself  will  yet  come  to  write  the  epitaph  of  Christ,  we, 
may  find  that  grim  monster  of  iniquity  carving  upon  the  marble 
rock— "  INNOCENT  BLOOD." 

Then  how  grandly  does  Christ  move  between  the  possible  and 
the  impossible.  When  he  said,  "  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot 
now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall  presently  give  me  more  than 
twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  I  can,  and  yet  I  cannot.  The  possible 
is  impossible."  Have  we  not  lived  that  strange  experience  ?  To 
the  man  who  lives  only  in  the  letter  the  statement  that  the  possible 
is  the  impossible  will  appear  to  be  a  contradiction  in  terms.  It  is 
the  very  key  of  life  !  you  can  do  things  which  you  cannot  do  :  you 
cannot  do  things  which  you  can  do.  Learn  that  lesson  and  life 
will  have  new  aspects,  and  every  day  will  have  new  experience. 
As  a  mere  matter  of  "  can,"  you  could  do  the  most  outrageous  and 
monstrous  things  this  very  day,  and  yet  you  could  not  do  anything 
of  the  sort.  You  can  burn  your  property,  insult  your  friends, 
dismiss  your  servants,  if  it  were  a  mere  matter  of  literal  ability,  and 
yet  you  could  not  do  one  of  these  things  !     What  keeps  you  back  ? 


244  MATTHEW  XXVI.  47-75. 

Not  force,  not  a  sword — an  invisible  principle,  a  conviction,  com- 
mon sense,  thought — all  unknowable,  unnamable,  immeasurable 
qualities.  As  a  mere  matter  of  literal  ability  there  is  no  length  of 
absurdity  to  which  you  could  not  go,  and  yet  you  cannot  take  a 
single  step  in  that  direction — cannot,  because  of  will,  thought, 
sense  of  the  fitness  of  things,  because  of  the  inspiration  of  righteous- 
ness, the  dictation  of  justice  and  the  regulation  of  common  sense. 
So  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  I  could  pray  for  angels — and  yet  I  can- 
not :  there  is  a  pressure  upon  me  which  I  will  not  resist :  how 
then  shall  the  Scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  thus  it  must  be  ?"  How 
they  tried  to  kill  him  :  they  wanted  to  be  murderers  without  hav- 
ing the  remorse  of  murder  in  their  souls.  That  is  what  many  men 
wish  to  be  ;  if  there  were  no  hot  blood  in  the  case  they  would  kill 
so  quickly  :  it  is  the  stain  they  cannot  rub  out,  that  they  fear. 
Blood  spouts  out  of  the  veins  and  splashes  things  that  are  a  long 
way  off  ;  it  is  difficult  to  erase,  it  tells  its  burning  story  to  scientific 
inquiry,  falls  in  unlikely  places,  and  comes  up  with  speech  of 
horrible  eloquence  to  those  who  are  in  quest  of  the  murderer. 

How  the  Saviour  was  watched,  malignly  watched,  always 
watched,  watched  with  eyes  theological,  eyes  political,  eyes  of 
envy,  eyes  of  passion.  No  wonder.  He  opposed  himself  to  the 
religion  of  his  times — whoever  does  that,  dies.  He  opposed  him- 
self to  the  orthodoxy,  the  respectability,  and  the  self-security  of 
his  age,  and  whoever  does  that,  dies  ! 

When  they  urged  him,  and  sought  to  drive  him  to  extremities, 
we  read  these  wonderful  words,  "But  Jesus  held  his  peace." 
That  was  probably  the  crowning  miracle  this  side  the  cross.  The 
great  Speaker  dumb,  the  Man  of  eloquence  without  a  word  upon 
his  lips — silence  was  then  truly  golden.  What  made  him  so 
quiet  ?  The  struggle  in  Gethsemane.  There  was  nothing  more 
to  be  said  :  the  Man  who  had  passed  through  such  experience  was 
bound  to  be  quiet.  This  is  no  arrangement  or  trick  or  ex- 
pedient :  it  comes  up  out  of  the  philosophy  of  the  case.  When 
we  return  from  some  grave-sides  we  cannot  speak.  When  we 
leave  some  altars  after  all-night  prayer,  we  cannot  speak  for  the 
next  three  days.  We  seem  to  our  friends  to  be  distrait,  absent, 
lost, — with  a  singular  shining  in  the  face,  a  new  gentleness  in  the 


CHRIST  SILENT  AND   SPEAKING.  245 

hand  :  it  is  not  derangement,  it  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  unwritten 
Scripture  that  sorrow  conquered  must  be  followed  by  eloquent 
silence.  Have  we  not  sat  together  when  the  favorite  child  has 
been  taken  out  of  the  house  to  come  back  no  more,  and  have 
spoken  to  one  another  never  a  word  ?  Have  we  not  sat  down  with 
our  smitten  friends  seven  days  at  a  time  and  never  said  a  syllable 
because  their  grief  was  very  great  ? 

The  battle  was  won  in  Gethsemane  :  to  have  spoken  after  that 
would  have  been  to  degrade  the  grandeur  of  all  that  made  the  life 
of  Christ  sublime.  Yet  when  he  did  speak,  under  the  pressure  of 
the  High  Priest,  he  spoke  in  a  fitting  tone.  "  Hereafter  shall  ye 
see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power  and  coming 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven."  What  could  you  do  to  a  man  who 
talked  so  ?  You  cannot  smite  that  man  to  his  hurt  :  he  is  above 
your  touch.  You  smite,  and  he  does  not  feel  the  smiting  :  the 
soul  in  that  hour  is  so  much  greater  and  grander  than  the  body, 
that  the  body  is  but  as  a  dead  surface  to  the  hand  that  ill  uses  it. 
Live  in  heaven,  live  in  the  actual  possession  of  God's  blessing, 
have  your  tabernacle  and  your  pavilion  in  Eternity,  and  not  a 
hair  of  your  head  shall  perish.  What  could  death  be  to  a  man 
who  talked  so  P  He  had  abolished  death  :  they  met,  they  caught 
one  another  in  their  terrific  arms,  and  Death  was  left  where  the 
blood-sweat  fell  ! 

Now  the  hounds  of  hell  have  their  turn.  Who  could  find  such 
reading  as  this — "  Then  did  they  spit  in  his  face,  and  buffeted 
him,  and  others  smote  him  with  the  palms  of  their  hands  ?" — six 
fists  fell  on  him  in  a  shower,  and  the  villains  said,  "  Who  smote 
thee,  thou  Christ?"  Then  all  spat  together,  and  asked  him  to 
name  them  one  by  one.  But  they  touched  him  not  !  All  bad 
men  do  this  selfsame  thing.  This  is  not  an  old  villainy,  it  is  a 
daily  crime.  We  sit  in  church  and  shudder  at  the  old  Pharisees 
and  Romans  and  Jews,  and  therein  do  we  put  the  Scriptures 
eighteen  hundred  years  away  from  us  and  make  them  a  story- 
book, whereas  we  all  live  in  this  sixty-seventh  verse. 

Something  did  grieve  Christ  more  than  the  enemy.  Peter  cut 
his  heart  in  two.  The  enemy  cannot  hurt  a  man  :  if  it  had  been 
an  enemy  that  had  done  this,  he  could  have  borne  it,  but  it  was 
thou,  a  man  mine  equal,  my  acquaintance  ;  we  went  to  the 
house  of  God  together,  and  together  kept  holy  day.     That  is  the 


246  MATTHEW  XXVI.  47-75. 

sting  !  Peter  said,  ' '  I  know  not  what  thou  sayest. ' '  Then  he 
added,  "  I  do  not  know  the  man. ' '  In  the  third  instance  he  be- 
gan to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying,  "  I  know  not  the  man."  That 
surely  is  an  ancient  anecdote  ?  so  it  is — yet  it  is  not  a  day  old  ;  it 
was  done  this  morning,  we  do  it  in  some  instances  day  by  day. 
We  are  orthodox  in  co?ivirtion,  we  are  heterodox  in  spirit  and  action. 
No  enemy  can  hurt  Christ  as  a  friend  can  hurt  him.  The  enemy 
does  not  get  at  his  heart,  the  friend  does.  Peter  is  living  now,  he 
is  living  perhaps  in  the  very  most  of  us — not  in  this  rough  and 
violent  form,  but  in  some  mood  more  subtle  yet  not  less  deadly  in 
its  expression.  O  Searcher  of  hearts,  have  I  denied  the  Saviour — 
have  I  made  light  of  his  name  in  order  to  avoid  the  mocking 
sneer  of  some  enemy  ?  Have  I  pledged  his  name  in  order  to 
sanctify  some  bad  transaction  ?  Yet  there  was  one  thing  about 
Peter  that  gives  one  hope  :  this  was  the  weakness  of  violence,  and 
therefore  it  will  have  suitable  reaction.  When  he  began  to  curse 
and  to  swear,  I  began  to  have  hope  of  him.  If  he  had  coldly 
said,  "  I  know  not  what  thou  sayest,"  he  might  never  have 
been  recovered.  The  violence  of  some  cases  is  their  hope.  Then 
began  he  to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying,  "  I  know  not  the  man." 
The  lips  now  foaming  with  such  madness  will  presently  pray. 
We  say  it  is  never  so  dark  as  before  the  dawn.  Have  hope  of 
your  worst  ones  :  they  may  come  back  yet.  Backsliders  return. 
Do  not  give  up  those  who  have  left  you  as  if  they  would  never, 
never  be  seen  at  home  again.  You  tell  me  their  last  words  were 
so  violent  and  so  severe.  That  is  my  very  hope  of  them.  It  is 
very  dark  just  now  :  let  us  go  to  the  door — open  it — and  perhaps, 
there  in  the  darkness,  we  shall  find  the  violent  one,  "  weeping 
bitterly." 


NOTE.     . 

At  the  end  of  this  volume  will  be  found  a  special  examination  of  the 
character  of  Judas  Iscariot.  The  line  of  thought  which  is  there 
pursued  may  be  novel  to  wme  readers. 


XCI. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  because  the  house  is  thine,  there  is  peace  in  it,  and  a 
great  light  makes  it  glad  with  a  morn  bright  as  heaven.  This  is  the  day 
the  Lord  hath  made  :  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it.  We  would  fain 
dry  our  tears  to-day  and  have  nothing  but  joy  dwelling  in  the  heart  and 
singing  along  all  the  range  of  the  redeemed  life.  Thou  hast  redeemed 
us  with  blood,  thou  hast  encountered  the  adversary  in  mighty  battle,  and 
behold  the  outshedding  of  the  blood  of  the  heart  of  Christ  was  the  very 
victory  of  the  Son  of  God.  We  are  redeemed,  not  with  corruptible 
things,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  thy  Son.  We  know 
not  the  price  thereof  :  they  only  who  have  lived  long  as  thyself  can  add 
up  the  mighty  value.  To  us  it  is  precious,  redeeming  blood,  the  blood 
which  cleanseth  from  all  sin,  the  answer  of  God  to  the  wickedness  of  the 
world. 

We  have  come  up  to  thine  house  with  all  musical  instruments  making 
glad  noises,  with  shoutings  of  the  heart  because  of  thy  goodness,  yea  our 
whole  life  lifts  itself  up  in  anthems  of  joyous  praise,  because  thou  hast 
beset  us  behind  and  before  and  laid  thine  hand  upon  us.  Thou  hast  held 
over  us  the  lamp  which  thou  hast  set  for  thine  anointed,  and  thou  hast 
found  for  us  a  rod  and  a  staff.  We  have  come  to  render  our  whole  life 
to  thee  in  grateful  return  :  Lord,  accept  the  worthless  gift,  and  make  it 
worthy  through  him  that  was  slain. 

We  have  come  to  sign  thy  book  again,  to  write  our  names  upon  the 
open  pages,  and  publicly,  in  the  light  of  noontide,  to  proclaim  ourselves 
sinners  saved  by  grace.  We  would  be  living  sacrifices  unto  God,  our  life 
would  rise  up  into  the  heavens  daily  as  an  acceptable  incense.  Lord, 
what  are  those  impulses  and  desires  of  ours,  but  inspirations  of  the  Holy 
Ghost?  Herein  do  we  feel  the  might  gracious  ministry  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  These  impulses  are  thy  creation,  these  prayers  come  out  of  thine 
own  wisdom,  and  this  uplifting  of  the  soul  is  the  marvel  of  thy  power. 

Save  us  from  the  dust,  from  the  trifles  of  time,  from  the  vexations  of 
earth,  from  seeking  prizes  that  have  no  value,  and  grasping  at  that  which 
perishes  in  the  hand.  Enable  us  to  covet  the  true  riches  ;  may  we  be 
misers  in  the  sanctuary,  treasuring  up  all  thou  dost  give,  and  loving  it, 
and  often  counting  it,  and  making  ourselves  wealthy  because  of  thy  daily 
revelation  and  grace.  Enable  us  to  turn  our  back  upon  the  yesterdays 
that  were  poor  and  mean,  and  to  set  ourselves  with  glad  faces  and  new 


248  PR  A  YER. 

desires  towards  the  unborn  time  ;  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  anointed 
daily  with  an  unction  from  heaven,  made  clean  by  the  blood  which  alone 
can  cleanse,  may  the  time  to  come  be  more  profitable  than  the  time  that 
is  gone,  in  all  holiness  of  heart,  consecration  of  spirit,  and  industry  of 
hands. 

We  commend  one  another  to  thy  benediction  ;  great  Father,  give  us  a 
sense  of  fellowship  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  give  us  keen 
and  clear  insight  into  the  holy  mysteries  oi  thy  book  and  into  the  unwrit- 
ten law  of  thy  universe.  Graciously  help  us  to  understand  ourselves,  our 
greatness,  our  littleness,  thy  purpose  concerning  us,  the  subtlety  of  temp- 
tation, the  might  of  the  enemy,  the  inexhaustibility  of  thy  resource,  and 
thus  may  we  walk  soberly,  wisely,  with  all  watchfulness  of  mind  and 
heart,  so  that,  come  when  thou  mayest,  we  may  be  found  ready. 

Thou  knowest  what  we  are  and  what  we  need  ;  what  we  pine  for  most 
and  what  we  love  the  best.  Thou  knowest  what  is  right  for  us,  whether 
it  be  better  to  be  on  the  hill-top,  amid  all  the  healthy  wind,  or  to  be  down 
in  the  valley,  suffering,  crushed,  hopeless.  Where  thou  wilt,  there  it  is 
best  for  us  to  be,  and  give  us  the  peace  of  resignation  where  we  cannot 
have  the  joy  of  triumph. 

Regard  the  old  and  the  young,  the  withered,  and  those  who  are  in  the 
vernal  freshness  of  their  beauty  and  youth.  The  busy  man  forget  not, 
but  remind  him  of  the  littleness  of  time  and  the  greatness  of  eternity. 
The  sick  at  heart,  the  ill  at  ease,  do  thou  comfort  with  the  hidden  balm 
of  heaven,  wherewith  thou  hast  comforted  the  saints  of  every  age  and 
made  glad  the  holy  men  of  every  time— it  is  not  exhausted,  it  is  like  thy- 
self, without  measure,  without  end.  Do  thou  therefore  bring  from  the 
hidden  sanctuary  the  solaces  so  rich  and  tender,  which  the  heart  needs 
every  day,  and  comfort  those  who  trust  in  thee  with  the  consolations  of 
God. 

Where  thou  hast  smitten  with  heavy  blows,  thou  wilt  recover  with  great 
redemption  and  tenderness  ;  where  the  darkness  has  been  intolerable, 
thou  wilt  set  a  great  wealth  of  light,  and  in  the  shining  thereof  the  dark- 
ness shall  be  forgotten. 

We  commend  to  thee  this  day  all  who  suffer  personal  loss,  family 
bereavement,  or  national  desolation.  Let  the  mercy  and  the  pity  of  the 
God  of  men  and  families  and  nations  be  not  repelled  from  those  who  are 
in  great  sorrow.  Magnify  thyself  in  the  darkness,  let  thy  grace  be  greater 
than  all  human  want,  and  may  souls  buried  in  the  depths  of  night  know 
how  true  it  is  that  light  is  greater  than  all  darkness. 

Now  that  we  set  ourselves  to  our  worship  and  to  our  study  of  thy  book, 
looking  behind  we  bless  thee  for  all  thy  care  and  love  and  pity  and  suste- 
nance, and  looking  before  we  commit  ourselves  lovingly,  hopefully,  to  thy 
wisdom  and  thy  power.  Sanctify  this  reunion,  re-establish  our  confidence 
in  one  another,  cause  our  love  to  burn  with  a  steadier  glow,  comfort  us 
in  all  immediate  distress  or  prospective  trouble,  and  when  the  twilight 
shall  come,  and  the  eventide,  and  the  farewell,  may  they  all  come,  not 


THE   TEXT.  249 

in  wrath  but  in  mercy.      A.t  eventide  may  there  be  light,  and  may  the 
night  of  earth  be  the  beginning  of  the  day  of  heaven.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxvii.  1-19. 

1.  When  the  morning  was  come,  all  the  chief  priests  and  elders  of  the 
people  took  counsel  (held  a  council)  against  Jesus  to  put  him  to  death  : 

2.  And  when  they  had  bound  him,  they  led  him  away,  and  delivered 
him  to  Pontius  Pilate  the  governor  (the  Procurator  of  Judea). 

3.  Then  Judas,  which  had  betrayed  (the  Greek  participle  is  in  the  present 
tense)  him,  when  he  saw  that  he  was  condemned,  repented  (Greek — a 
simple  change  of  feeling)  himself,  and  brought  again  the  thirty  pieces  of 
silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders, 

4.  Saying,  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood 
And  they  said,  What  is  that  to  us  ?  see  thou  to  that. 

5.  And  he  cast  down  the  pieces  of  silver  in  the  temple  (the  part  of  it 
known  as  "the  sanctuary," — the  money  was  thrown  into  the  Holy 
Place),  and  departed,  and  went  and  hanged  himself. 

6.  And  the  chief  priests  took  the  silver  pieces,  and  said,  It  is  not  lawful 
for  to  put  them  into  the  treasury  (Corban,  or  sacred  treasure  chest), 
because  it  is  the  price  of  blood. 

7.  And  they  took  counsel,  and  bought  with  them  the  potter's  field  (the 
type  of  the  unseen  Gehenna),  to  bury  strangers  in. 

8.  Wherefore  that  field  was  called,  The  field  of  blood,  unto  this  day. 

9.  Then  was  fulfilled  that  which  was  spoken  by  Jeremy  the  prophet, 
saying,  And  they  took  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  the  price  of  him  that  was 
valued,  whom  they  of  the  children  of  Israel  did  value  ; 

10.  And  gave  them  for  the  potter's  field,  as  the  Lord  appointed  me. 

11.  And  Jesus  stood  before  the  governor  :  and  the  governor  asked  him, 
saying,  Art  thou  the  King  of  the  Jews  ?  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Thou 
sayest. 

12.  And  when  he  was  accused  of  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  he 
answered  nothing. 

13.  Then  said  Pilate  unto  him,  Hearest  thou  not  how  many  things  they 
witness  against  thee  ? 

14.  And  he  answered  him  to  never  a  word  ;  insomuch  that  the  governor 
marvelled  greatly. 

15.  Now  at  that  feast  the  governor  was  wont  to  release  unto  the  people 
(a  common  incident  in  a  Latin  feast  in  honour  of  the  gods)  a  prisoner, 
whom  they  would. 

16.  And  they  had  then  a  notable  prisoner,  called  Barabbas. 

17.  Therefore  when  they  were  gathered  together,  Pilate  said  unto  them, 
Whom  will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  ?  Barabbas,  or  Jesus  which  is 
called  Christ  ? 

iS.   For  he  knew  that  for  envy  they  had  delivered  him. 

19.  When  he  was  set  down  on  the  judgment  seat  (the  chair  of  judg- 


250  MATTHEW  XXVII.  1-19. 

ment,  which  was  placed  on  a  mosaic  pavement),  his  wife  sent  unto  him, 
saying,  Have  thou  nothing  to  do  with  that  just  man  :  for  I  have  suffered 
many  things  this  day  in  a  dream  because  of  him. 


CHRIST   BEFORE   PILATE. 

"  TT  J  HEN  the  morning  was  come."  Was  ever  morning  in- 
V  V  vited  to  look  upon  so  ghastly  a  spectacle  ?  Morn  and 
death  !  There  is  a  grim  irony  in  this  conjunction  of  terms.  God 
sends  a  fair  day  upon  the  earth,  and  we  befoul  the  very  dew  that 
glistens  upon  the  heavenly  gift.  We  rise  from  sleep  as  men  skilled 
in  evil,  and  begin  at  once,  with  practised  hands,  to  rub  out  the 
commandments  written  upon  the  rocks,  and  to  pervert  every 
promise  hidden  in  the  sweet  flowers.  We  begin  soon  :  we  might 
have  spent  some  little  time  in  hesitation,  but  we  are  apt  scholars 
in  the  school  of  evil  ;  we  soon  cease  to  be  scholars  and  become 
teachers.  The  morning  that  once  had  in  it  some  gladness  for  us, 
and  some  hint  of  veneration  and  religiousness,  and  that  came  to 
us  as  a  revelation,  and  a  lifting  up  of  the  heart,  now  comes  a  new 
chance  to  serve  the  devil.  What  I  say  unto  one,  I  say  unto  all, 
"Watch." 

Judas  went  by  night  to  seek  the  Lord.  It  was  better.  There 
was  a  kind  of  remnant  of  religion  about  the  traitor  when  he  chose 
the  night  for  his  villainy.  He  was  not  quite  so  bad  as  he  might 
have  been  :  he  waited  till  torch-time.  The  chief  priests  and  eldeis 
seized  the  morning — thus  the  whole  day  has  been  stained  through 
and  through  with  wickedness,  the  morning,  the  night,  the  shining 
of  the  sun  and  the  trembling  of  the  stars,  the  whole  circle  of  the 
day  has  not  had  one  degree  of  it  left  without  taint  of  blasphemy 
and  evil. 

There  are  no  particular  times  for  sinning.  If  you  want  a 
chance  it  will  come.  Thus  a  God  of  pity  has  to  take  up  every  day 
like  a  spoiled  thing,  and  baptize  it  and  regenerate  it  and  send  it 
upon  the  earth  as  a  new  morning  to  us.  But  he  never  fails  to  do 
this.  He  giveth  more  grace,  he  will  not  cast  us  off  for  ever,  he 
will  yet  rub  out  the  evil  of  the  day  and  of  the  night,  and  he  will 
save  us  if  he  can.  If  lost,  we  shall  be  suicides  :  there  shall  be  no 
imprint  of  the  fingers  of  God  upon  us  as  having  thrust  us  out, 
when  we  find  ourselves  in  utter  darkness.      He  lives  to  save  ! 


CHRIST  AND    CONSCIENCE.  251 

The  chief  priests  and  elders  held  a  council  against  Jesus  to  put 
him  to  death.  They  are  still  holding  it  :  that  council  never 
rises. 

Until  Christ  be  killed  and  utterly  slain,  the  chief  priests  and 
elders  of  history  will  have  no  peace — no  priest  can  live  peacefully 
on  the  same  earth  with  Christ ;  he  came  to  put  down  the  priest, 
to  destroy  the  elder,  to  abolish  self-conceit,  self-centring,  self- 
sufficiency,  and  to  reduce  men  to  such  a  sense  of  sin  and  moral 
humiliation  and  personal  guilt  as  would  excite  the  cry  in  every 
heart,  "  God  be  merciful  unto  me  a  sinner."  Jesus  Christ  is 
still  bound,  and  is  being  led  away  to  Pontius  Pilate  every  morn- 
ing, and  is  being  crucified  at  high  noon  every  day.  Every  third 
day,  thank  God,  he  stands  up  again,  still  there,  still  ready  to 
teach,  and  still  mighty  to  save.  Disabuse  yourselves  of  the  foolish 
notion  that  this  transaction  occurred  once  for  all.  Any  transac- 
tion that  can  occur  once  for  all  is  a  trifle.  These  are  the  solemn 
realities  of  history  :  they  are  continually  repeating,  and  amidst 
those  solemn  realities  there  is  none  so  stern,  so  grand,  so  tender, 
and  so  beneficent,  as  this  whole  transaction  relative  to  the  arrest, 
the  trial,  the  death,  the  resurrection,  and  the  ascension  of  him 
whom  we  publicly  and  loyally  call  Lord. 

Our  purpose  in  these  studies,  however,  has  been  to  find  out 
how  Christ  deported  himself  under  all  the  circumstances  which 
from  time  to  time  gathered  around  him  and  constituted  the  story 
of  the  passing  day.  We  have  therefore  only  to  do  with  these 
facts  in  their  peculiar  relation  to  the  central  Figure.  The  one 
question  which  we  have  to  ask,  and  if  possible  to  answer,  is — 
How  did  Jesus  Christ  deport  himself  in  these  tragical  circum- 
stances ?     . 

He  so  acted  as  to  rouse  to  very  madness  the  conscience  of  the  man 
who  had  betrayed  him.  Judas  was  appalled  by  the  issue.  No 
man  can  betray  Christ  without  first  betraying  himself.  Under- 
stand that.  No  man  can  give  Christ  away,  or  sell  him,  or  play 
foully  with  any  of  the  great  verities  of  the  sanctuary,  without 
having  first  betrayed  and  sold  and  damned  himself.  These  are 
not  the  actions  of  the  hand,  done  for  the  moment,  set  down  and 
forgotten  as  accidents  of  the  transient  day  ;  you  could  never  have 
spoken  a  word  against  the  sanctuary,  its  Lord,  its  light  and  its 
revelation,    until   something  had  taken   place  in  your  own  heart 


252  MATTHEW  XXVII.  1-19. 

amounting  \.o  self  betrayal.  The  villainy  is  in  the  heart  before  it  is 
in  the  hand.  Not  only  does  all  history  elucidate  this,  but  much 
of  our  personal  experience  and  observation  goes  to  confirm  it. 
Who  has  ever  known  a  man  play  falsely  with  the  balances  of  the 
sanctuary,  with  the  light  and  spirit  and  truth  of  the  holy  place, 
who  did  not  at  some  time — quickly  it  may  be — afterward  show 
that  before  he  did  so  there  had  been  a  tremendous  collapse  in 
his  own  heart  ?  Then  he  sought  for  excuses,  then  he  would 
mortgage  the  future,  then  he  would  so  lay  his  lines  that  they 
might  be  useful  to  him  on  the  occasion  which  he  too  vividly  fore- 
saw. And  they  who  look  but  with  the  eyes  of  the  body  only,  and 
do  not  read  moral  mysteries  and  penetrate  into  spiritual  secrets, 
are  bewildered  or  misled,  or  are  for  the  moment  shocked  into 
undeserved  pity  for  the  man  who,  having  dug  the  pit,  fell  into  it, 
instead  of  being  allowed  to  bring  others  whose  ruin  he  had  con- 
templated into  the  tremendous  catastrophe. 

Judas  always  reveals  himself.  He  never  was  so  revealed  to 
himself  as  when  Christ  acted  as  he  did  immediately  after  the 
betrayal.  If  Jesus  Christ  had  taken  any  other  course  than  the 
one  which  he  then  adopted,  he  would  have  justified  the  spirit  and 
the  policy  of  Judas  Iscariot.  Search  into  Christ's  method  of 
meeting  the  circumstances,  and  you  will  find  here,  as  everywhere, 
the  ineffable  wisdom  that  is  always  at  peace  with  itself,  so  com- 
plete in  its  range,  and  in  its  purpose,  that  it  cannot  be  ruffled, 
and  can  never  know  the  torment  of  vital  disquiet.  Jesus  Christ 
will  utter  no  words  about  Iscariot,  but  he  will  so  conduct  himself 
as  to  show  Iscariot  in  his  true  light.  This  is  his  method  of 
judgment  with  us  all  :  he  enters  into  no  wordy  controversy,  he 
does  not  bandy  terms  with  us,  or  set  himself  into  weaving  elabo- 
rate accusations  :  he  so  orders  his  providence,  the  whole  method 
of  his  economy,  as  to  bring  out  of  us  the  reality  of  our  soul. 

Suppose  Jesus  Christ  had  betaken  himself  to  personal  resentment. 
Judas  would  have  stood  justified  before  the  public,  he  would 
have  been  credited  with  the  insight  that  this  man  only  needed  to 
be  brought  into  certain  circumstances  to  reveal  the  evil  quality 
that  lurked  within  him.  But  there  was  no  anger, — anger,  a 
sputter  for  a  moment,  an  indignity  inflicted  upon  the  man  who  is 
himself  angry  !  There  was  the  appalling  quietness  which  makes 
criminal  men  afraid.     To  speak  to  one  who  will  not  answer — 


CHRIST'S   TREATMENT  OF  IS CAR/0 T  253 

ivhy  that  silence  ?  a  fit  of  madness,  a  lull  before  the  storm,  a  secret 
which  tabernacles  the  very  God  of  heaven  himself  !  Why  that 
persistent  speechlessness  ?  The  man  is  thrown  upon  himself  :  he 
has  to  find  the  explanation  in  his  own  heart,  he  has  to  be  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  has  done  something  for  whose  accusation 
and  impeachment  there  is  nothing  in  human  language  to  touch 
the  tremendous  matter. 

Suppose  Jesus  Christ  had  proclaimed  himself  King  of  the  Jews, 
in  the  vulgar  sense  which  the  disciples  had  conceived  and  acted 
upon  so  long — Judas  would  have  stood  justified  :  he  would  be 
hailed  as  the  second  man  in  the  empire  ;  his  the  crafty-headed- 
ness  that  forced  the  proclamation — his  the  high  and  subtle  states- 
manship that  saw  the  hour  had  come  for  the  coronation  of  the 
king  !  But  there  was  no  such  proclamation  :  to  Pilate's  courte- 
ous question  there  was  a  courteous  reply  which  carried  with  it  a 
deeper  mystery  than  it  answered.  What  could  be  thought  of  a 
Man  who  to  Pilate's  inquiry  "  Art  thou  a  king?"  said  to  Pilate 
himself,  "Thou  sayest. "  An  unexpected  echo,  a  question 
turned  into  a  confirmation,  an  enquiry  made  the  starting-point  of 
thought  and  a  new  set  of  actions  ! 

Thus  he  answers  our  questions  as  if  we  ourselves  had  answered 
them,  and  thus  he  replies  to  our  prayers  as  if  we  ourselves  had 
uttered  and  answered  both. 

Suppose  Jesus  Christ  had  betaken  himself  to  recantation.  Seeing 
that  the  chief  priests  and  elders  of  the  people  were  really  in  ear- 
nest, and  that  death  was  meant,  suppose  that  he  had  hung  his  head 
and  said,  "  I  have  been  wrong  all  this  time  and  presumed  upon 
your  ignorance  :  I  have  cast  myself  upon  the  well-known  credulity 
of  the  world,  I  have  acted  with  the  highest- handed  empiricism 
ever  attempted  in  all  the  history  of  time — now  seeing  anger  in 
your  faces  and  malice  in  your  eyes,  believing  that  you  are  about 
to  cut  me  in  twain  and  to  pour  out  my  blood  upon  the  earth,  pity 
me  and  forgive  me."  Judas  would  have  stood  justified  :  he  was 
the  man  who  had  brought  to  a  proper  issue  the  most  monstrous 
imposture  that  ever  appalled  the  human  imagination  ! 

The  man.  who  betrayed  Jesus  actually  gave  him  the  highest 
compliment  ever  offered  to  his  sacred  name.  What  said  Judas  ? 
"  Innocent  blood."  He  said  it  who  had  spent  days  and  nights  in 
the  company  of  the  accused  Man  ;  he  said  it  who  had  heard  the 


254  MATTHEW  XXVII.  1-19. 

very  whispers  of  the  heart  which  he  had  sold  ;  he  said  it  who  had 
followed  him  night  and  day,  week  and  month,  year  and  year, 
and  who  knew  all  there  was  to  be  known  ;  and  looking  upon  the 
whole  circle  of  the  wondrous  life,  among  his  last  words  were,  "  It 
is  innocent  blood."  Had  there  been  a  flaw  in  that  character 
Judas  would  have  known  it  :  had  there  been  any  temporizing  or 
cunning  arrangement  of  policy  or  expressed  purpose  in  the  most 
concealing  whispers,  Judas  would  have  been  well  acquainted  with 
the  whole  circumstances.  If  he  could  have  gone  back  upon  the 
three  years'  story  and  what  had  been  done,  that  was  his  time  for 
the  relation  of  scandalous  anecdote  or  suspicious  circumstance  ; 
standing  there — himself  to  die  before  the  Man  he  had  offered  to 
death — he  said,  ' '  innocent  blood.  ' ' 

So  say  we  all,  when  we  come  to  our  true  consciousness  ;  we 
will  not  blame  God's  providence  or  God's  way  of  conducting  and 
developing  life — we  will  vindicate  his  course,  though  in  doing  so 
we  should  write  in  bolder  characters  our  own  condemnation.  Let 
God  be  just,  and  every  man  unjust  before  him  ;  let  God  be  true, 
and  every  man  a  liar.  It  may  suit  us  for  momentary  purposes  to 
seek  to  cast  reflections  upon  the  divine  providence,  but  when 
we  come  to  see  the  reality  of  things  we  shall  say,  "  Innocent 
God,  innocent  blood,  innocent  sanctuary — the  evil  is  in  myself 
only. 

Jesus  Christ  so  acted  as  to  call  forth  the  real  quality  of  the  men 
who  hated  him.  Outwardly  he  left  them  to  themselves,  but  in- 
wardly he  plagued  their  hearts  as  with  stings  and  torments  of  hell. 
He  would  give  them  no  hold  upon  him  :  he  gathered  himself  so 
intensely  into  himself  that  they  could  nowhere  grasp  the  victim 
they  would  kill.  This  silence  was  meant  as  a  judgment.  This  was 
a  controversy  not  to  be  settled  by  the  noise  of  anger  or  the  sharp- 
ness of  intellectual  defence  :  it  went  down  to  the  very  heart  of 
things,  and  carried  before  it  the  destiny  of  the  whole  world.  He 
showed  that  the  men  who  undertook  to  slay  him  knew  exactly 
what  they  were  doing  ;  he  made  them  say  it  in  plain  words,  and 
those  plain  words  are,  "  It  is  the  price  of  blood ." 

He  forces  us  into  speech  :  he  who  can  be  so  silent  can  make  us 
so  talkative  !  Men  must  be  driven  to  say  in  plain  words  what  they 
have  been  doing  :  there  must  be  no  making  of  haste  over  the 
matter,  but  a  deliberation  which  brings  out  every  accent  and  gives 


THE    WORD  FOR    WICKEDNESS.  255 

it  ample  scope  to  ring  itself  into  the  hearing  of  the  soul  and  of  the 
world,  every  man  must  state  his  own  case  and  make  plain  his 
own  sin. 

They  would  call  the  field  ' '  a  place  to  bury  strangers  in, ' '  but 
the  common  people  would  not  be  misled  by  any  such  euphemism — 
hence  it  was  called  "  the  field  of  blood."  Trust  the  instincts  of 
a  great  people  for  knowing  how  to  name  things  rightly.  The 
priests  and  the  elders  label  them  with  fine  terms,  cunning  men 
seek  for  classical  terms  in  which  to  hide  the  iniquity  of  their  lives, 
but  there  is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
giveth  him  understanding,  and  though  the  priests  and  elders  might 
morning  after  morning  call  it  "  a  place  to  bury  strangers  in,"  an 
act  of  beneficence,  the  great  heart  of  the  nation  said,  "  Aceldama, 
blood-bought,  blood-soaked,  the  field  of  blood  !" 

Until  we  name  things  properly,  we  cannot  deal  reformatively 
with  them  in  any  deep  sense.  Do  not  seek  a  great  word  to 
describe  your  course  in  life,  use  the  little  word — SIN.  Let  no 
man  delude  you  by  using  long  terms,  empty  polysyllables,  in  the 
sounding  of  which  you  lose  the  consciousness  of  your  guilt,  but 
say  with  plainness  that  cannot  be  misunderstood,  ' '  God  be  merci- 
ful unto  me  a  sinner.  ' ' 

The  men  who  were  in  charge  of  this  base  business  paid  no  heed 
to  the  pain  and  sorrow  of  Judas.  When  he  made  his  confession 
they  said,  ' '  What  is  that  to  us  ?  See  thou  to  that. ' '  The  bad  man 
can  co-operate  only  up  to  a  given  point  :  his  policy  always  breaks 
itself  up.  What,  would  you  trust  a  bad  man  ?  He  will  watch  you, 
balance  you,  value  you,  drain  you  dry,  stud}'  your  character — 
and  when  he  has  brought  you  either  to  the  extreme  of  remorse  or 
to  the  humiliation  of  destitution,  he  will  say  to  you,  "  See  thou 
to  that."  There  is  no  duration  in  evil,  there  is  no  health  in 
wickedness,  there  is  no  honour  in  the  bad  heart.  Will  you  trust 
men  who  tell  lies  to  you,  will  you  trust  men  who  can  sell  innocent 
blood  ?  They  will  leave  you  to  yourselves  one  day.  "  My  son, 
if  sinners  entice  thee,  consent  thou  not ;  if  they  say,  Let  us  lurk 
privily  for  blood,  let  us  have  one  purse,  let  us  enter  into  a  com- 
pact— O  my  son,  consent  thou  not  ;  they  will  rob  thee,  ruin  thee, 
mock  thee,  disown  thee,  and  send  thee  out  to  a  felon' s  rope. 

Jesus  Christ  developed  the  wickedness  of  the  world.  As  the  light 
shows  all  things,  so  the  life  of  Christ  showed  human  nature  exactly 


256  MATTHEW  XXVII.  1-19. 

as  it  was.  But  for  this  life  of  Christ  we  never  should  have  known 
what  human  nature  is,  in  reality.  We  should  have  seen  it  in  parts 
and  sections  and  aspects,  but  its  inner  self,  its  essential  quality,  we 
never  could  have  known. 

Jesus  Christ  allowed  these  men  to  lie  to  the  top  of  their  bent. 
Pilate  himself  listening,  wonder-struck,  said,  "  How  many  things 
they  witness  against  thee  !"  They  who  did  not  know  him,  they 
who  read  only  the  outside,  they  who  were  eavesdroppers  and  not 
allowed  to  go  into  the  inner  sanctuary,  they  who  were  fertile  in 
falsehood — how  many  things  they  witnessed  against  him  !  But 
the  man  who  had  come  from  the  inside,  with  the  odour  of  sanctity 
not  quite  exhausted,  said,  ' '  Innocent  blood. ' '  They  dropped  the 
word  ' '  innocent, ' '  and  kept  the  word  ' '  blood. ' '  Jesus  Christ 
allowed  them  to  go  to  the  full  length  of  their  tether,  to  show  how 
base  was  their  criminality,  how  mean  their  purpose,  and  how  little 
they  deserved  the  titles  they  wore. 

So  he  does  with  us.  He  strips  every  man  of  unworthy  gar- 
ments, and  forces  every  man  to  a  confession  and  a  revelation  of 
his  real  quality.  He  is  set  for  the  fall  and  the  rising  of  many. 
Judging  ourselves  by  ourselves,  we  pronounce  upon  ourselves 
condemnation,  and  confer  upon  ourselves  dying  honours,  but 
standing  in  the  sanctuary,  weighed  in  the  balances  divine,  coming 
near  to  the  Son  of  God,  we  can  only  say,  if  we  speak  the  true 
word,  ' '  I  abhor  myself  in  dust  and  ashes. ' ' 

What  mystery  and  embarrassment  Christ  created  in  those 
circumstances  !  Pilate  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  him.  No 
such  case  had  ever  come  before  him.  What  he  heard  by  the  ear 
was  contradicted  by  what  he  heard  in  the  spirit.  He  listened  to 
witnesses  against  the  Man,  and  all  the  while  there  was  a  spirit 
talking  to  his  heart  saying,  "  They  are  liars,  do  not  heed  them." 
They  made  out  a  fine  case,  and  a  Spirit  said  to  his  heart,  "  This 
is  envy."  "  Pilate  knew  that  for  envy  they  had  delivered  him." 
And  envy  is  a  thing  that  cannot  be  legislated  about.  No  man 
knows  where  it  begins,  where  it  operates,  where  it  ends.  It  taints 
the  speech,  it  perverts  the  spirit,  it  gives  a  twist  to  the  look,  it 
writes  its  base  signature  upon  every  feature  of  the  countenance. 
There  is  no  law  for  it,  there  is  no  whip  made  for  the  scourging  of 
the  envious  man  :  he  must  be  left  to  those  subtle  ministries  of 


PILATE'S    WIFE'S  DREAM.  257 

Providence  which  bring  the  jealous  to  the  ground  and  torment  the 
envious  with  intolerable  pain. 

Pilate's  wife  had  a  dream  by  day.  If  the  chief  priests  and 
elders  were  busy  in  the  morning,  so  the  great  God,  watching  over 
all,  sent  a  day-dream  upon  a  good  woman.  We  lock  up  our 
dreams  and  make  them  night- visitants.  God  sends  them  at  noon,; 
closes  the  eye  and  makes  an  angel  talk  to  us,  shuts  out  the  vulgar, 
visible  world,  and  makes  to  pass  before  the  mystical  eyes  of  the 
soul  a  panorama  of  his  purpose  and  meaning,  and  we  come  out  of 
that  trance  with  a  new  world  swinging  before  our  bewildered 
gaze.  A  dream  is  a  lens  through  which  we  see  into  the  bigger 
spaces  and  the  ampler  worlds.  God  speaks  in  visions  of  the 
night,  in  sudden  appearances  and  disappearances,  in  marvellous 
contortions  of  circumstances  which  we  had  pronounced  ordinary 
and  regular. 

Do  not  try  to  make  your  world  less,  try  to  make  it  bigger. 
There  be  those,  indeed,  victims  of  superstition,  who  have  multi- 
plied dreams  of  their  own  making,  and  brought  the  dream-part  of 
our  life  into  contempt ;  but  God  has  used  the  dream,  through 
every  age  of  human  history,  and  the  vision  of  the  night,  singular 
circumstances,  and  napping  of  wings  in  the  air  without  any  visible 
figure — and  out  of  these  have  come  strange  issues  and  often 
beneficent  endings.  I  will  not  therefore  throw  away  any  oppor- 
tunity which  history  has  given  me  of  enlarging  my  outlook,  and 
feeling  that  the  world  is  bigger  than  that  blue  line  that  lies  on  the 
hills  yonder,  and  which  men  call  the  horizon. 

Mysterious  Christ — saying  nothing,  yet  speaking  all  the  time  : 
looking  other  people  into  speech,  and  maddening  them  by  an  un- 
accountable dumbness,  making  them  play  the  fool  because  he  will 
be  no  party  to  their  base  transactions.  Rather  be  at  peace  than 
at  war  with  such  a  man  !  Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him  and  be 
at  peace,  or  he  will  bruise  thee  !  No  man  can  get  the  better  in 
battle  of  this  Christ.  He  goes  down  that  he  may  come  up  again 
with  a  fuller  power.  They  who  come  out  against  him  in  battle 
are  left  dead  upon  the  field  of  their  choice.  If  this  stone  shall 
fall  upon  any  man  it  will  grind  him  to  powder — if  we  fall  upon  it, 
in  penitence  and  contrition  and  religious  hopefulness,  we  shall  be 


258  .  MATTHEW  XXVII.  1-19. 

broken,  but  it  will  be  the  breaking  which  is  the  beginning  and  the 
seal  of  true  and  eternal  healing.  To  this  Christ  I  call  all  men. 
Why  lift  the  little  fist  against  him  to  have  it  bruised  ?  Many 
there  be  who  have  struck  at  Christ,  but  he  has  wounded  them  to 
their  destruction.  Let  us  go  to  him,  pray  to  him,  confess  every- 
thing to  him,  and  there  is  room  in  that  great  heart  of  his  for  every 
one  of  us  1 


XCII. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  come  to  thee  through  the  crucified  One  as  through 
the  only  way  by  which  we  can  find  access  to  thy  throne.  We  stand  by 
the  cross,  and  as  we  look  up  into  the  eyes  of  the  dying  Sufferer,  our  sin 
finds  out  all  the  meaning  of  his  great  work.  He  was  delivered  for  our 
offences,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities,  and  the  chastisement  of  our 
peace  was  upon  him.  By  his  stripes  are  we  healed.  We  know  not  all 
the  mystery  of  this  love  :  it  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  it  was  love. 
God  is  love,  infinite  love  :  we  need  it  all  :  we  sin  every  day,  and  every 
day  we  need  the  cross.  Blessed  be  thy  name,  the  cross  stands  through 
all  the  light  and  through  all  the  darkness  ;  the  night  and  the  day  are  the 
same  to  it,  for  thy  mercy  endureth  for  ever.  Where  sin  abounds,  grace 
doth  much  more  abound.  Thy  grace  is  greater  than  the  law, — taking  it 
up  and  causing  it  to  be  swallowed  up  in  that  which  is  greater  than  itself. 
We  are  saved  by  grace,  and  that  not  of  ourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God — 
the  grace,  the  favour,  the  mercy  of  God.  In  this  grace  we  stand,  by  it 
we  are  saved,  and  in  it  is  the  secret  of  our  hope,  and  the  security  of  our 
being  is  in  it  also.  Thou  dost  give  more  grace,  thou  dost  give  grace 
upon  grace,  till  we  are  filled  with  thy  love  and  made  holy  by  thy  pres- 
ence. 

We  have  come  to  worship  thee  in  hymns  and  psalms  and  loud  thanks- 
givings, for  thy  tender  mercies  are  over  all  thy  works,  and  the  morning 
brings  us  a  new  revelation  of  thy  lovingkindness.  Thy  faithfulness  is  as 
a  great  rock,  and  thy  mercy  as  a  boundless  sea,  and  thy  wisdom  and  thy 
love  like  a  great  shining  heaven.  We  run  into  thine  house  and  find 
security  there.  This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made,  we  will  rejoice  and 
be  glad  in  it.  Recall  to  our  memory,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  all  that  is 
best,  purest,  tenderest  in  our  recollection,  and  make  our  memory  glow  as 
it  brings  before  its  review  thy  wonderful  tokens  of  patience  and  regard  * 
and  love.  May  we  omit  nothing  of  the  great  sum  ;  thou  hast  left  no 
moment  unbaptized  :  in  every  moment  hast  thou  hidden  some  drop  of  thy 
dew.  O  thou  who  givest  always,  give  us  thy  very  self  to  reign  in  our 
hearts. 

As  for  thy  word,  it  is  sweeter  to  us  than  honey,  yea  than  the  honey- 
comb ;  we  found  thy  word  and  we  did  eat  it  ;  we  sighed  for  some  token 
from  heaven,  and  behold  we  found  it  in  the  written  word,  full  of  light  and 
love  and  redeeming  messages,  filled  from  end  to  end  with  the  majesty  and 


26o  MATTHEW  XXVII.  20-54. 

tenderness  of  the  cross.  We  would  live  upon  thy  word  as  upon  bread 
sent  down  from  heaven  ;  it  would  be  unto  us  bread  which  the  world 
knoweth  not  of,  a  light  at  midnight,  a  song  in  the  storm,  an  angel  always 
in  the  house.  Grant  us  an  inspiring  spirit  to  read  the  inspired  word  — so 
shall  we  go  beyond  the  letter  and  find  out  all  the  mystery  of  the  music 
and  all  the  blessedness  of  the  eternal  love. 

What  we  are  thou  knowest,  and  what  we  would  be  none  but  thyself  can 
tell.  We  are  here  for  a  few  days,  most  of  the  time  as  a  cloud  overhead, 
and  we  see  nothing  but  the  great  gloom.  We  struggle  and  wonder,  we 
pray  and  blaspheme,  we  read  thy  word  and  forget  it,  and  in  the  midst  of 
all  the  rush  of  life  thou  dost  lay  us  down  in  our  last  sleep.  Man  that  is 
born  of  woman  is  of  few  days  and  full  of  trouble.  We  all  do  fade  as  a 
leaf,  and  our  iniquities  like  the  wind  have  taken  us  away.  O  that  we  were 
wise,  that  we  would  consider  our  latter  end.  Lord,  teach  us  the  number 
of  our  days,  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom.  May  we  be 
amongst  those  servants  who  shall  be  found  waiting  when  their  Lord 
cometh,  having  in  their  hearts  a  great  expectancy,  a  noble  and  inextin- 
guishable hope. 

Look  upon  us  now  as  needy  suppliants  at  thy  throne— needing  light, 
grace,  forgiveness,  uplifting  of  heart,  rekindling  of  all  that  is  best  which 
is  of  thine  own  creation.  Thou  wilt  not  spare  any  blessing  which  thy 
needy  children  ask  at  thy  hands.  When  thou  hast  given  all,  then  forgive 
— hear  thou  in  heaven  thy  dwelling-place,  and  when  thou  hearest,  forgive. 
May  the  power  of  the  cross,  its  holy  blood  and  great  sacrifice,  be  realized 
in  our  consciousness  of  individual  and  complete  pardon. 

Grant  to  each  of  thy  people  what  each  most  needs — guidance  through 
the  immediate  perplexity,  release  from  the  day's  embarrassment,  an 
answer  to  the  difficulty  of  the  immediate  time,  solace  under  the  deep 
wound  which  has  touched  the  heart.  Cover  up  our  graves  with  flowers, 
make  our  bed  in  our  affliction,  lift  up  the  weak  in  thine  arms  and  give 
them  rest  and  renewal  of  strength,  and  lead  us  all  the  way  through  to  the 
very  end,  till  we  languish  into  life.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxvii.  20-54. 

20.  But  the  chief  priests  and  elders  persuaded  the  multitude  that  they 
should  ask  Barabbas,  and  destroy  Jesus. 

21.  The  governor  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Whether  of  the  twain 
will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  ?     They  said,  Barabbas. 

22.  Pilate  saith  unto  them.  What  shall  I  do  then  with  Jesus  which  is 
called  Christ?  They  all  say  unto  him,  Let  him  be  crucified  (the first 
direct  intimation  of  the  mode  of  death). 

23.  And  the  governor  said,  Why,  what  evil  hath  he  done  ?  But  they 
cried  out  the  more,  saying.  Let  him  be  crucified. 

24.  When  Pilate  saw  that  he  could  prevail  nothing,  but  that  rather  a 
tumult  was  made,   he  took  water,  and  washed  his  hands  (Deut.  xxi.  6) 


THE   TEXT.  261 

before  the  multitude,  saying,  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  just  per- 
son :  see  ye  to  it. 

25.  Then  answered  all  the  people,  and  said,  His  blood  be  on  us,  and 
on  our  children.     (Madly  inverting  the  law,  Deut.  xxi.  8.) 

26.  Then  released  he  Barabbas  unto  them  :  and  when  he  had  scourged 
{Jlagellum  :  the  Roman  punishment  with  knotted  thongs  of  leather)  Jesus, 
he  delivered  him  to  be  crucified. 

27.  Then  the  soldiers  of  the  governor  took  Jesus  into  the  common  hall 
(the  Praetorium),  and  gathered  unto  him  the  whole  band  of  soldiers  (the 
cohort,  or  subdivision  of  a  legion).  • 

28.  And  they  stripped  him,  and  put  on  him  a  scarlet  robe.  (Probably 
some  cast-off  cloak  of  Pilate's  own.) 

29.  And  when  they  had  platted  a  crown  of  thorns,  they  put  it  upon  his 
head,  and  a  reed  in  his  right  hand  (representing  the  sceptre  used  symboli- 
cally both  in  the  Republic  and  the  Empire)  :  and  they  bowed  the  knee 
before  him,  and  mocked  him,  saying,  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  ! 

30.  And  they  spit  upon  him,  and  took  the  reed,  and  smote  him  on  the 
head. 

31.  And  after  that  they  had  mocked  him,  they  took  the  robe  off  from 
him,  and  put  his  own  raiment  on  him,  and  led  him  away  to  crucify  him. 

32.  And  as  they  came  out,  they  found  a  man  of  Cyrene,  Simon  by 
name  (Mark  mentions  him  as  the  father  of  Alexander  and  Rufus),  him 
they  compelled  to  bear  his  cross. 

33.  And  when  they  were  come  unto  a  place  called  Golgotha  (nigh  unto 
the  city,  John  xix.  20),  that  is  to  say,  a  place  of  a  skull, 

34.  They  gave  him  vinegar  to  drink  mingled  with  gall  (wine  mingled 
with  myrrh,  meant  to  dull  the  sufferer's  pain),  and  when  he  had  tasted 
thereof,  he  would  not  drink. 

35.  And  they  crucified  him,  and  parted  his  garments,  casting  lots  :  that 
it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  They  parted  my 
garments  among  them,  and  upon  my  vesture  did  they  cast  lots. 

36.  And  sitting  down  they  watched  him  there  ; 

37.  And  set  up  over  his  head  his  accusation  written,  THIS  IS  JESUS 
THE  KING  OF  THE  JEWS  (the  titulus,  or  bill,  or  placard). 

38.  Then  were  there  two  thieves  crucified  with  him,  one  on  the  right 
hand,  and  another  on  the  left. 

39.  And  they  that  passed  by  reviled  him,  wagging  their  heads, 

40.  And  saying,  Thou  that  destroyest  the  temple,  and  buildest  it  in 
three  days,  save  thyself.  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from 
the  cross. 

41.  Likewise  also  the  chief  priests,  mocking  him,  with  the  scribes  and 
elders,  said, 

42.  He  saved  others  ;  himself  he  cannot  save.  If  he  be  the  King  of 
Israel,  let  him  now  come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe  him. 

43.  He  trusted  in  God  ;  let  him  deliver  him  now,  if  he  will  have  him  : 
for  he  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God. 


262  MATTHEW  XXVII.  20-54. 

44.  The  thieves  also,  which  were  crucified  with  him,  cast  the  same  in 
his  teeth. 

45.  Now  from  the  sixth  hour  (the  place  of  execution  was  reached  about 
9  a.m.)  there  was  darkness  over  all  the  land  unto  the  ninth  hour. 

46.  And  about  the  ninth  hour  Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying, 
Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ?  (to  the  Roman  soldiers  and  the  Hellenistic 
Jews  unintelligible),  that  is  to  say,  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me  ? 

47.  Some  of  them  that  stood  there,  when  they  heard  that,  said,  This 
man  calleth  for  Elias  (probably  a  wilful  perversion). 

48.  And  straightway  one  of  them  ran,  and  took  a  sponge,  and  filled  it 
with  vinegar,  and  put  it  on  a  reed,  and  gave  him  to  drink. 

49.  The  rest  said,  Let  be,  let  us  see  whether  Elias  will  come  to  save 
him. 

50.  Jesus,  when  he  had  cried  again  with  a  loud  voice,  yielded  up  the 
ghost. 

51.  And,  behold,  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top 
to  the  bottom  ;  and  the  earth  did  quake,  and  the  rocks  rent  ; 

52.  And  the  graves  were  opened  ;  and  many  bodies  of  the  saints  which 
slept  arose, 

53.  And  came  out  of  the  graves  after  his  resurrection,  and  went  into 
the  holy  city,  and  appeared  unto  many. 

54.  Now  when  the  centurion,  and  they  that  were  with  him,  watching 
Jesus,  saw  the  earthquake,  and  those  things  that  were  done,  they  feared 
greatly,  saying,  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God. 

THE   CRUCIFIXION. 

1 '  \\  ARABBAS  or  Jesus."  That  is  the  question,  to-day,  that 
JlJ  question  never  changes.  Our  choice  is  not  between  things 
similar,  but  between  things  exactly  and  irreconcilably  opposite. 
This  does  not  always  appear  to  be  the  case,  but  it  is  so  in  reality. 
We  have  shaded  things  now  so  much  into  one  another  that  we 
delude  ourselves  with  the  notion  that  the  distance  between  one 
action  and  another  is  merely  nominal.  We  must  get  rid  of  that 
sophism,  if  we  would  begin  the  real  work  of  life.  There  are  but 
two  spirits  in  the  universe,  both  present  at  the  opening  of  human 
history,  and  they  rule  the  world  to-day.  Those  spirits  are  good 
and  evil,  God  and  the  devil,  the  pure  and  the  impure,  the  heavenly 
and  the  infernal.     To  one  or  other  of  these  we  belong. 

Yet  we  may  not  appear  to  belong  to  either  of  them  decisively. 
In  our  motive  and  purpose  we  may  be  the  very  elect  of  God, 
whilst  we  are  apparently  the  children  of  wrath.     We  are  what  we 


THE  TRUE  STANDARD   OF  CHARACTER.         263 

would  be  if  we  could.  Our  character  is  not  in  the  broken  deed, 
the  unsaintly  word,  the  passing  temper  :  our  character  is  in  our 
heart  of  hearts,  our  secret  motive,  our  supreme  purpose.  Herein 
are  men  misjudged,  both  on  the  one  side  and  the  other  ;  herein 
has  been  found  a  considerable  difficulty  in  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  itself  to  some,  for  they  know  not  how  a  man  can  be  said  to 
be  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  when  he  has  done  thus  and  so — 
actions  evidently  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  holiness  and  of  justice. 
How  can  Peter  be  a  disciple  of  Christ,  when  he  has  sworn  with 
an  oath  that  he  knew  not  the  man  ?  Surely  there  must  be  some 
other  standard  of  judgment  by  which  we  make  our  mistakes,  for 
we  make  no  true  judgments.  I  find  rest  in  the  doctrine  that  we 
are  in  reality,  all  appearances  to  the  contrary,  what  we  really  would 
be,  in  our  holiest  prayers  and  in  our  highest  inspirations.  If  we 
can  say,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all  things — thou  knowest  that  I 
love  thee,"  though  ten  thousand  accusing  voices  ring  from  the 
very  caverns  of  hell  itself  in  impeachment  of  our  life,  God  will 
know  how  to  esteem  us. 

The  doctrine  holds  good  on  the  other  side.  We  are  not  to  be 
judged  by  our  occasional  goodnesses,  our  fits  of  charity,  our  studied 
actions  of  beneficence.  We  cannot  pay  the  mighty  debt  of  accu- 
sation which  the  law  brings  against  us.  Thrust  we  our  hand 
never  so  deep  into  our  resources,  there  is  nothing  in  those  re- 
sources themselves  to  answer  the  mighty  claim.  So  let  us  be  just 
on  the  one  side  as  on  the  other.  I  do  not  value  the  momentary 
sigh,  the  mere  cry  of  a  calculating  penitence,  which  is  sorry  for 
the  result  rather  than  for  the  sin.  I  must  be  understood  as  speak- 
ing to  reality,  to  essences,  to  the  very  vitalities  of  things,  and  as 
holding  the  candle  of  ,the  Lord  over  the  thoughts  and  reins  of  the 
heart. 

Is  not  some  such  word  of  cheering  necessary  to  recover  us  from 
the  leprosy  of  despair  ?  We  get  into  the  way  of  adding  up  what 
we  have  done,  and  complaining  of  the  little  sum.  There  is  a 
sense  in  which  such  action  is  perfectly  proper — but  what  is  your 
spirit,  what  is  your  supreme  desire  P  Stripping  yourselves  of  all 
commendation,  false  refuges,  mistaken  trusts,  and  fanciful  con- 
ceptions of  life,  what  is  it  that  you  really  wish  to  be  />  If  hidden 
in  God's  sanctuary,  shut  up  with  God  face  to  face,  you  can  truly 
say,  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  all    things,  thou  knowest  that  I  love 


264  MATTHEW  XXVII.  20-54. 


thee  :  God  be  merciful  unto  me  a  sinner,"  then  who  shall  lay 
anything  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?  It  is  God  that  justifieth. 
Who  is  he  that  condemneth  ?"  It  is  Christ  that  died — who  is  he 
that  shall  rub  out  the  record  of  his  sacrifice  and  blood  ?  Stand  in 
the  temple  of  these  infinite  securities  and  let  no  man  take  thy 
crown. 

"  The  chief  priests  and  elders  persuaded  the  multitude  that  they 
should  ask  Barabbas  and  destroy  Jesus."  The  chief  priests  and 
elders  are  doing  the  same  thing  to-day.  The  priest  is  always  a  bad 
man  ;  if  he  be  not  more  than  a  priest,  he  is  the  worst  of  men. 
This  was  the  irreligiousness  of  religion.  Religion  has  done  the 
very  worst  things  that  ever  were  done  in  human  history.  We 
must  get  rid  of  his  word  "  religion"  in  some  of  the  senses  in 
which  it  is  so  often  mistakenly  and  mischievously  employed. 
Religion  lay  at  the  bottom  of  the  original  FALL.  Eve  never 
could  have  been  deceived  by  anything  but  religion.  It  was  along 
the  religious  instinct  she  was  approached,  it  was  through  the 
religious  instinct  she  was  destroyed.  What  said  the  tempter  ? 
"  Ye  shall  be  as  gods. " 

That  is  the  sophism  which  underlies  the  subtlest  temptations 
which  assail  our  life  :  to  be  as  gods, — to  break  through  the 
boundary  line,  to  commit  the  final  trespass,  to  include  all  things 
within  the  circle  of  our  thought  and  movement  !  Religion  may 
describe  a  merely  outward  attitude,  religion  may  be  nothing  but  a 
Latin  name  :  what  we  want  is.    .    .    .    Godliness.      God  is  a  Spirit. 

We  want  an  essential  quality,  a  vital  spirit,  a  holy  inspiration. 
Religion  may  be  irreligious,  but  godliness  can  never  be  less  than 
divine. 

In  all  the  imprecatory  psalms  we  have  nothing  but  the  irrelig- 
iousness of  religion  ;  religion  pressed  beyond  its  proper  province  ; 
a  partial  and  imperfect  righteousness,  a  little  and  mean  righteous- 
ness which  thinks  itself  virtuous  because  it  would  bring  down  fire 
upon  the  vices  of  other  people.  The  great  righteousness  is  love. 
O  that  we  could  learn  that  lesson  !  then  should  we  get  rid  of  all 
censoriousness  and  cynicism,  and  all  mutual  criticism,  and  men 
would  be  silent  where  they  are  now  noisy  as  to  one  another's 
faults.  The  imperfect  man,  the  Old  Testament  saint,  the  man 
who  thinks  that  righteousness  consists  in  perpetual  visitation  of 


UNCONSCIOUS  MEANINGS.  265 

justice  upon  the  head  of  the  offender,  is  an  irreligious  religionist. 
He  who  sees  righteousness  rising  in  infinite  glory  into  love,  and 
shedding  from  its  boundless  firmament  the  dews  of  pity,  upon  a 
sinning  world — he  touches  the  very  heart  of  Christ  !  Truly  I 
know  not  where  religion  would  lead  some  men  ;  it  makes  them 
angry,  sour,  cynical,  and  foolish,  and  invests  them  with  a  power 
of  doing  incalculable  mischief  in  the  family  and  in  the  church. 

The  action  of  Pilate  is  described  with  infinite  naturalness. 
There  be  many  who  condemn  Pilate  and  laugh  at  him.  I  cannot 
join  the  unholy  contempt.  Pilate  could  have  done  nothing  else. 
He  has  been  condemned  for  vacillation  by  men  who  have  not 
transformed  themselves  into  his  personality  and  made  themselves 
reel  under  the  tremendous  pressure  of  the  tumult  which  surged 
around  him.  He  has  been  to  them  but  a  figure  on  a  page  ;  they 
have  approached  him  with  cold  criticism  ;  they  have  condemned 
where  they  should  have  sympathised  and  pitied.  1  honor  Pilate. 
He  was  in  a  difficult  position — he  was  not  master  :  he  suggested 
reasons  and  methods,  which  if  accepted  would  have  tended 
towards  pity,  release,  and  even  justice  of  the  noblest  kind.  But 
whilst  I  speak  this  word  for  the  historical  man  Pilate,  I  have  nothing 
but  condemnation  for  modern  Pilalism.  Always  distinguish  be- 
tween the  historical  man  and  the  principle  which  has  been  modern- 
ized and  named  in  his  name.  Cain  is  dead — Cainism  never  dies  ! 
Pilate  is  no  more  with  us  in  the  flesh,  but  Pilatism  is  the  principal 
influence  in  the  church  to-day.  What  does  Pilatism  do  ?  It 
affects  friendship  ;  it  pays  compliments  ;  it  transfers  responsibility  ;  it 
wants  to  be  on  both  sides  ;  it  speaks  a  word  and  then  does  a  con- 
tradictory deed  ;  it  washes  its  hands  and  shuts  its  eyes  to  the 
great  murders  of  the  times.  It  accepts  a  ritual,  it  avoids  a  disci- 
pline. 

How  far  are  we  ourselves  the  subjects  of  this  condemnation  ? 
Where  is  the  honest  follower  of  Christ  ?  Not  the  blatant  follower, 
but  the  steady,  constant,  loyal,  loving  follower  whose  life  is  a 
gospel  written  in  the  largest  characters,  and  whose  speech  is 
eloquent  with  the  messages  of  the  cross  itself  ?  In  what  relation 
do  we  stand  to  modern  controversies  ?  Men  are  surging  around 
Christ  now  who  want  to  crucify  him  again  on  a  literary  cross,  or 
a  cross  that  is  critical.      How  do  we  stand  in  relation  to  them — 


266  MATTHEW  XXVII.  20-54. 

are  we  firm,  clear,  simple,  not  with  the  firmness  of  bigotry,  not 
with  the  simplicity  of  ignorance,  but  with  the  steadiness  of  loving 
gratitude  to  Christ  for  every  revelation  of  wisdom  and  every  hope 
of  redemption  ?  Let  the  church  be  steady  and  it  will  become  the 
centre  of  peace  in  a  tumultuous  world.  The  peaceful  man  brings 
peace  into  every  scene. 

The  people  answered  Pilate  with  this  great  cry,  "  His  blood  be 
on  us  and  on  our  children," — a  prayer  with  an  unconscious  mean- 
ing, a  vulgarity  with  a  sanctuary  enclosing  it !  It  is  marvellous 
how  many  persons  have  uttered  words  with  unconscious  meanings, 
and  how  some  of  the  greatest  testimonies  have  come  from  men 
who  did  not  know  that  they  were  uttering  them.  Take  the  case 
of  Caiaphas,  for  example  :  he  gave  counsel  to  the  Jews  that  it  was 
"  expedient  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people  " :  he  did  not 
know  what  he  was  saying,  yet  in  that  saying  he  uttered  the  very 
gospel  of  eternity.  We  cannot  tell  how  far  our  words  go  and 
what  they  really  do  in  the  world,  and  what  great  meanings  will  be 
attached  to  words  which  we  spoke  with  more  or  less  of  thought- 
lessness or  with  more  or  less  of  Ynerely  local  contraction  and 
application. 

How  noble  an  eulogium  might  be  wrought  out  by  skilful 
eloquence  out  of  the  testimony  of  outsiders  and  enemies  !  I  ask 
for  no  other  testimonial  to  the  spirit  and  character  of  Christ,  and 
to  the  effect  of  his  spirit  and  character,  than  that  which  has  been  un- 
consciously given  by  those  who  were  outsiders,  or  who  were  supposed 
to  be  personal  enemies.  What  said  Judas?  "  Innocent  blood." 
What  said  Pilate's  wife  ?  "Just  person."  What  said  the  cen- 
turion amid  all  the  darkness  and  terrible  phenomena  of  the  last 
hour — the  Roman  centurion,  a  participator  in  the  great  guilt  ? 
At  the  close  of  all  he  said,  "  Truly  this  Man  was  the  Son  of 
God."  These  are  not  the  testimonies  of  personal  allies  or  sworn 
supporters.  Judas  and  Pilate  and  Pilate's  wife  and  the  centurion 
concur  in  writing  under  the  name  of  Christ  a  testimony  which  is 
sufficient  of  itself  to  confirm  his  claim  and  to  lift  his  character 
above  all  just  suspicion.  "  He  maketh  the  wrath  of  men  to  praise 
him,  he  drags  the  enemy  at  his  chariot  wheels."  It  is  one  of  two 
things,  a  hearty,  spontaneous,  cordial  union  in  the  mighty  anthem 
which  bears  his  name  above  every  name  in  its  thunders  of  praise, 


INGENIOUS  CRUELTY.  267 

or  a  reluctant  testimony  forced  out  of  unwilling  lips,  but  still 
tending  in  the  direction  of  the  lofty  and  immortal  song. 

Now  we  come  to  the  last  scene  of  all.  Hear  these  words,  "  He 
delivered  him  to  be  crucified."  The  law  that  would  find  no  fault 
in  him  was  like  an  iron  gate  crushed  down  by  an  angry  mob — 
the  gate  of  law  gave  way,  the  last  barrier  fell,  and  the  powers  of 
darkness  were  triumphant.  Pilate  delivered  Jesus  to  be  crucified. 
If  wolves  can  be  glad  when  they  fasten  their  gleaming  teeth  in  the 
flesh  of  their  prey,  then  were  those  men  glad  when  they  laid  their 
cruel  hands  on  the  unresisting  Christ.  From  him  there  was  no 
cry  of  pain,  in  him  there  was  no  shudder  of  mortal  fear — he  had 
died  some  time  before,  the  bitterness  of  death  was  past,  he  had 
accomplished  his  sorrow,  in  all  its  higher  aspects,  in  Gethsemane. 
Now  he  is  "  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before 
her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his  mouth."  They 
could  not  touch  him  ;  they  could  tear  down  the  house  in  which 
he  lived,  but  himself -was  beyond  the  cruel  act ! 

See  the  ingenuity  of  cruelty  :  see  what  hell  can  do  at  its  best. 
Let  us  realize  the  scene  so  far  as  we  know  it.  Let  Christ  be  the 
central  figure  of  our  assembly  ;  closing  our  eyes,  as  it  were,  let 
us  look  upon  him  with  the  inner  vision  and  see  what  actually 
took  place.  They  stripped  him,  they  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns 
and  put  it  upon  him,  they  put  a  reed  in  his  right  hand,  they 
mocked  him,  they  spat  upon  him,  they  took  the  reed  out  of  his 
hand  and  smote  him  on  the  head — they  led  him  away  to  crucify 
him.  The  ingenuity  of  hell  could  go  no  further.  They  stripped 
him  who  said,  "If  thine  enemy  take  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy 
cloak  also. ' '  He  who  preached  the  great  sermon  lived  it  in  every 
throb  of  its  infinite  passion.  They  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns  for 
him  who  said,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world."  They 
mocked  him  who  said,  "  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven." 
They  spat  on  him  who  kept  the  door  open  for  the  prodigal  and 
would  not  begin  the  feast  till  the  wanderer  came  back.  They 
smote  him  on  the  head  who  never  had  one  thought  or  wish  but  for 
the  public  good.  They  led  him  away  to  be  crucified  who  never 
harmed  a  single  living  thing !  The  evil  powers  triumphed. 
When  he  hung  upon  the  cross  they  said,  "  He  trusted  in  God, 
let  him  deliver  him  now  if  he  will  have  him.  They  that  passed 
by  wagged  their  heads   and  railed  on  him.     The  thieves   also 


268  MATTHEW  XXVII.  20-54. 

which  were  crucified  with  him  cast  the  same  in  his  teeth."  And 
he,  as  if  confirming  the  very  triumph  of  hell,  said  with  a  loud 
voice,  "  Eloi,  Eloi,  Lama,  Sabachthani, — My  God,  my  God,  why 
hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?' '  There  was  darkness  over  the  whole 
land — the  earth  did  quake,  and  the  rocks  were  rent,  and  the 
graves  were  opened,  and  the  God-forsaken  Sufferer  hung  there — 
the  Victim  without  a  friend,  the  Saviour  of  many  without  a  voice 
to  defend  his  fame  ! 

O  thou  great  hell,  take  the  victory.  Spirit  of  evil,  damned 
from  all  eternity,  mount  the  central  cross  and  mock  the  dead  as 
thou  hast  mocked  the  living  !  The  night  is  dark  enough — no 
such  night  ever  settled  upon  the  earth  before.  Will  the  light  ever 
come  again — is  the  sun  clean  gone  for  ever — will  the  blue  sky 
ever  more  kiss  the  green  earth  ?  All  the  birds  are  dead,  their 
music  is  choked  ;  the  angels  have  fled  away  and  the  morning  stars 
have  dropped  their  sweet  hymn.  This  is  chaos  with  an  added 
darkness.     What  is  happening  ? 

May  be  God  and  Christ  are  communing  in  the  secret  places 
away  beyond  the  mountains  of  night — may  be  that  this  murder 
will  become  the  world's  Sacrifice — may  be  that  out  of  this  blas- 
phemy will  come  a  Gospel  for  every  creature.  It  cannot  end 
where  it  is — that  cannot  be  the  end  of  all  !  What  will  come 
next  ?     We  must  wait. 


NOTES. 

"  And when  they  had  platted  a  crown  of  thorns,  they  put  it  upon  his 
head,  and  a  reed  in  his  right  hand,  and  they  bowed  the  knee  before  him,  and 
mocked  him,  saying,  Hail,  Kiyig  of  the  Jews  /"     Did  not  the  thorns  come 

of  the  curse  ?    "  Cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake; thorns  shall 

it  bring  forth."  Did  he  not,  in  the  fullest  sense,  bear  the  curse  for  us? 
They  put  a  reed  in  his  right  hand, — do  not  all  insincere  professors  do  the 
same?  Partial  sovereignty,  often  merely  nominal  sovereignty,  is  given 
to  Jesus  Christ  even  by  those  who  avow  his  religion.  The  soldiers  knelt 
before  their  victim  in  an  attitude  of  mock  worship  ;  this,  even  more  than 
crucifixion,  is  the  uttermost  depth  of  depravity  ;  crucifixion  may  be  a 
legal  act,  but  mockery  is  the  refinement  of  cruelty. 

"  And  they  spit  upon  him,  and  took  the  reed,  and  smote  him  on  the  head," 
Truly,  it  was  the  hour  and  power  of  darkness.     The  spiritual  temptation 


NOTES.  269 

having  failed,  the  lower  instrument  of  physical  torture  is  employed  with- 
out mercy.  The  soul  was  untouched, — why  fear  them  that  kill  the  body, 
and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they  can  do  ?  They  smote  him  on  the 
head — or  into  the  head,  etc  neipa/.yv,  drove  the  thorns  into  his  head  with 
bats  and  blows." — (Trapp). 

They  compelled  Simon  of  Cyrene  to  bear  his  cross."  The  writer  just 
quoted  well  says  :  "  Not  so  much  to  ease  Christ,  who  fainted  under  the 
burden,  as  to  hasten  the  execution  and  to  keep  him  alive  till  he  came  to  it. 
Truly  the  tender  mercies  of  the  wicked  are  cruel  !  "  They  gave  him 
vinegar — cold  comfort  to  a  dying  man  ;  but  they  did  it  in  derision,  q.d.y 
Thou  art  a  King,  and  must  have  generous  wines.  Here's  for  thee,  there- 
fore." 


XCIII. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  how  wonderful  is  thy  way  in  light  and  in  love.  We 
cannot  follow  all  thy  going,  but  thou  hast  so  wrought  in  us  by  the  mighty 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  we  can  wholly  trust  thy  love,  and  be 
assured  that  thy  way  is  light,  though  it  be  in  the  whirlwind,  and  the 
clouds  be  the  dust  of  thy  feet.  Thou  dost  rise  above  us  as  the  heaven  is 
higher  than  the  earth,  yet  thine  eye  is  upon  us  for  good,  and  thine  hand 
is  searching  our  life  to  find  out  where  it  may  lay  some  other  gift.  Thou 
dost  live  to  give  ;  thou  didst  so  love  the  world  as  to  give,  and  in  that  giv- 
ing we  saw  thy  whole  heart,  all  the  love  of  thine  eternity,  and  all  the 
grace  of  thine  infinitude.  Thou  didst  give  thine  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life. 
Thou  hast  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked — thy  purpose  is  life  and 
immortality,  and  bliss  and  service  that  is  rest,  and  expectation  that  is  its 
own  fulfilment.  Enable  us  to  lay  hold  upon  the  gift  of  thy  Son,  and  to 
make  it  the  chief  and  only  treasure  of  our  life.  His  blood  cleanseth  from 
all  sin,  the  great  answer  of  his  love  confounds  every  accusation  of  the 
law,  so  that  we  say,  It  is  God  that  justifieth,  who  is  he  that  condemneth  ? 

Enable  us  more  and  more  clearly  to  see  the  cross,  to  feel  its  gracious 
power,  to  answer  its  pathetic  appeal.  May  we  live  in  Christ  because 
Christ  lives  in  us,  and  may  we  serve  Christ  because  of  the  inspiration  of 
his  own  Spirit.  May  the  secret  of  our  energy  be  in  the  constraining  love 
of  Christ,  may  the  mystery  of  our  power  and  our  industry  be  found  in  the 
love  of  our  heart  for  the  Son  of  God.  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son, 
but  freely  delivered  htm  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him  also 
freely  give  us  all  things  ?  So  would  we  have  but  one  care,  that  we  have 
Christ  in  us,  and  that  we  live  fn  Christ— then  shall  all  things  needful  and 
good  be  added  unto  us. 

We  now  unanimously  praise  thee  in  cordial  and  loving  song  for  all  thy 
tender  care  over  us  from  the  first  breath  until  now.  We  are  thy  children  : 
thou  didst  make  us  and  not  we  ourselves  ;  we  have  in  us  thine  own  image 
and  likeness,  marred  indeed  and  broken,  not  to  be  known  by  any  eye  but 
thine  :  yet  still  God  is  our  Father  in  heaven.  Thou  wilt  not  shut  the  door 
until  the  prodigal  returns,  thou  wilt  welcome  all  who  come  to  thee  in 
penitence  and  hope  and  loving  trust.  Thou  dost  not  turn  away  from  the 
sons  of  men  who  cry  unto  thee  contritely,  thou  dost  further  open  the 
home-door  and  with  broader  welcomes  call  to  those  who  are  furthest  off. 


PRAYER.  271 

Thy  mercy  endureth  for  ever  :  thy  mercy  is  a  great  sea,  thy  love  is  with- 
out bound  or  limit  which  we  can  determine.  Where  sin  abounds  grace 
doth  much  more  abound,  for  art  not  thou  the  all-filling  One,  and  all-rul- 
ing, putting  away  everything  contrary  to  thine  own  holiness  and  causing 
thy  wisdom  to  be  the  light  and  peace  of  creation  ? 

We  come  with  our  sins,  but  we  shall  not  take  them  away  again  :  we 
lay  them  down  as  a  black  and  heavy  burden  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 
Lord,  help  us  ;  Lord,  pardon  us  ;  Lord  lift  up  the  light  of  thy  counte- 
nance upon  us  and  say,  "  Thy  sins,  which  are  many,  are  all  forgiven." 
Thou  dost  not  forgive  little  by  little,  thou  dost  not  pardon  partially,  thou 
dost  multiply  to  pardon,  yea,  thou  dost  pardon  with  pardons,  as  billow 
rolling  upon  billow,  until  our  sins  are  like  stones  which  are  cast  into  the 
depths  of  the  sea. 

We  come  with  our  continual  prayer  for  light,  guidance,  defence,  and 
peace  which  passeth  understanding.  We  know  not  how  few  our  days, 
but  we  would  make  them  the  best  days  of  our  whole  life.  Hence  on  we 
would  have  no  mistake  or  error  ;  from  this  time  forward  may  our  life  be 
complete  in  thy  presence  by  reason  of  the  holiness  of  its  purpose  and  the 
sanctity  of  its  prayer.  Yet  we  know  we  shall  fail,  we  shall  be  bruised 
again,  the  enemy  shall  yet  overthrow  us— yet  surely  thou  wilt  come  in  the 
end  and  bind  us  up  with  an  eternal  healing,  and  make  us  strong  with 
immortality.  We  are  in  thine  hands  as  we  have  always  been  ;  our  sin 
shall  not  separate  us  from  thee,  if  so  be  there  rise  in  our  heart  the  hatred 
of  it  and  the  desire  to  be  better. 

We  come  asking  for  light  upon  thy  page,  holy  page,  divinely  written, 
full  of  light  and  truth.  Open  our  eyes  that  we  may  behold  wondrous 
things  out  of  thy  law,  give  to  our  understanding  the  light  that  shall  be  as 
a  lamp  of  thine  own  lighting,  and  may  we  see  things  afar  off,  and  read 
with  quick  and  sure  vision  all  the  writing  of  God  concerning  this  life. 

Hear  any  special  hymn  and  any  particular  prayer  now  offered  by  those 
who  bow  before  thee  in  morning  worship.  In  some  houses  thou  hast 
given  new  life,  and  with  new  life  is  a  new  song.  Otherwhere  thou  hast 
put  out  the  fire  and  blocked  up  the  window  into  which  the  most  light 
came,  and  made  the  house  cold  and  drear.  O  visit  thou  the  dwelling  thus 
desolated,  and  make  it  glad  again  with  some  purer  joy.  Regard  those 
whose  life  is  now  to  them  a  perplexity  and  a  wonder,  not  knowing  how 
they  shall  spend  the  little  remainder  of  their  energy,  and  grant  them  un- 
expected answers  of  release  and  joy. 

The  Lord's  blessing  be  upon  us  now  as  a  worshipping  people  ;  give  us 
the  spirit  of  adoration,  the  spirit  of  supplication,  and  the  spirit  of  hope- 
fulness, and  work  in  us  that  sacred  and  vigilant  desire  which  looks  out 
for  blessings  and  hails  them  with  joy  in  their  descent. 

As  for  those  who  are  not  with  us,  they  are  with  thee — the  sick,  the 
afflicted,  the  helpless,  the  poor  who  dare  not  venture  out  in  the  light,  but 
who  wait  for  the  darkness  that  they  may  seek  even  their  Father's  house. 
The  Lord  remember  such,  and  make  all  heaven  shine  upon  them  with 


272  THE   TEXT. 

promise  and  blessing.  Our  dear  ones  on  the  water,  the  great  abyss, 
voyaging  homeward,  with  many  a  tender  memory  and  many  a  sacred 
hope — the  Lord  himself  navigate  the  ship  and  bring  it  to  the  desired 
haven. 

Bless  the  stranger  within  our  gate,  the  man  unfamiliar  with  the  place 
and  institute,  and  give  him  comfort  in  the  thought  that  this  is  his  Father's 
house.  In  all  our  meetings  and  partings  be  thou  with  us,  the  one  Light 
and  the  only  joy,  till  we  are  gathered  in  the  house  that  is  above.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxvii.  55-66. 

55.  And  many  women  (distinct  from  the  "  daughters  of  Jerusalem," 
Luke  xxiii.  28)  were  there  beholding  afar  off,  which  followed  Jesus  from 
Galilee,  ministering  unto  him  : 

56.  Among  which  was  Mary  Magdalene  (the  first  mention  of  the  name 
in  Matthew),  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James  (the  Little)  and  Joses,  and 
the  mother  (Salome,  Mark  xv.  40)  of  Zebedee's  children. 

57.  When  the  even  was  come,  there  came  a  rich  man  of  Arimathaea 
(probably  Ramah,  the  birthplace  of  Samuel),  named  Joseph,  who  also 
himself  was  Jesus'  disciple  ; 

58.  He  went  to  Pilate,  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus.  Then  Pilate 
commanded  the  body  to  be  delivered. 

59.  And  when  Joseph  had  taken  the  body,  he  wrapped  it  in  a  clean 
linen  cloth, 

60.  And  laid  it  in  his  own  new  tomb,  which  he  had  hewn  out  in  the 
rock  :  and  he  rolled  a  great  stone  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  and 
departed. 

61.  And  there  was  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  other  Mary,  sitting  over 
against  the  sepulchre. 

62.  Now  the  next  day,  that  followed  the  day  of  the  preparation,  the 
chief  priests  and  Pharisees  came  together  unto  Pilate, 

63.  Saying,  Sir,  we  remember  that  that  deceiver  said,  while  he  was  yet 
alive,  After  three  days  I  will  rise  again. 

64.  Command  therefore  that  the  sepulchre  be  made  sure  until  the  third 
day,  lest  his  disciples  come  by  night,  and  steal  him  away,  and  say  unto 
the  people,  He  is  risen  from  the  dead  :  so  the  last  error  (better  deceit,  as 
corresponding  with  deceiver,  ver.  63)  shall  be  worse  than  the  first. 

65.  Pilate  said  unto  them,  Ye  have  a  watch  :  go  your  way,  make  it  as 
sure  as  ye  can. 

66.  So  they  went,  and  made  the  sepulchre  sure,  sealing  the  stone,  and 
setting  a  watch  (the  priests  took  part  as  well  as  the  soldiers). 


ON  THE   CROSS.  273 


THE  SAYINGS  ON  THE  CROSS. 

THESE  incidents  are  utterly  trifling  as  compared  with  what 
had  transpired  on  the  cross  itself,  as  indeed  all  incidents, 
except  the  Resurrection,  must  be.  Nothing  can  occur,  so  soon 
after  the  scene  upon  the  cross,  which  can,  compared  with  that 
tragedy,  be  worthy  of  one  moment's  consideration.  Whilst  there- 
fore these  petty  details  are  completing  themselves,  let  us  study  the 
inner  life  of  Christ  as  revealed  in  some  of  the  Sayings  which  he 
uttered  from  the  cross  in  his  last  agony.  These  Sayings  will 
admit  us  into  the  very  sanctuary  of  his  soul.  You  remember  that 
he  called  his  sermon  upon  the  mount  "  These  sayings  of  mine," 
— now  that  he  is  upon  the  higher  mount,  the  cross,  he  utters 
Seven  Sayings,  which  are  really  but  a  re-pronouncement  of  the 
first.  The  Sayings  on  the  cross  seem  to  be  the  solemn  peroration 
of  the  Sayings  on  the  mount.  The  great  music  is  one.  He 
returns,  after  many  a  wondrous  and  thrilling  variation,  to  the  note 
with  which  he  opened  the  anthem.  In  such  returns  and  such 
consonances,  we  find  an  argument  for  his  Deity. 

What  said  he  on  the  cross  ?  ' '  Woman,  behold  thy  son. ' '  He 
also  said,  "  I  thirst."  Further,  he  said,  "  Father,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit. "  Again  he  said,  "Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  And  he  cried,  saying,  "  My 
God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  Finally  he  said, 
"  It  is  finished."  He  laid  the  rock  when  he  preached  the  sermon 
on  the  mount  :  on  the  cross  he  built  the  infinite  fabric.  Without 
professing  to  settle  the  order  in  which  the  Sayings  are  uttered,  we 
can  have  no  difficulty  in  discovering  the  meaning  of  the  revelation. 
After  we  have  studied  that  meaning  awhile,  we  can  come  to  these 
little  incidents,  and  gather  them  up  and  show  their  greater  meaning. 

The  Sayings  upon  the  cross  surely  give  a  complete  revelation  of 
the  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  was  no  dramatic  personage  that 
quivered  on  the  cross.  It  is  of  importance  to  say  this.  The 
voice  was  human,  the  confession  of  need  was  human,  the  sense  of 
desolation  was  human,  his  filial  affection  was  human.  All  these 
last  proofs  were  needed  to  render  absolutely  impossible  any  theory, 
mythical,  dramatic,  or  imaginary  in  any  sense.  On  the  cross  was 
the  man  Christ  Jesus.     The  humanity  of  Christ  made  his  priest~ 


274  MATTHEW  XXVII.  55-66. 

hood  possible.  We  could  not  have  a  priest  in  a  mere  Deity. 
Deity  does  not  pray.  He  must  be  a  man,  often  as  weak  as  I  am  ; 
he  must  have  a  body  as  real,  burning  with  the  same  fire,  quivering 
under  the  same  pain,  answering  the  same  great  demands.  He 
hungered,  he  thirsted,  he  slept,  he  rested  because  of  weariness,  he 
sat  down  on  Jacob's  well.  Verily  he  took  not  on  him  the  nature 
of  angels,  he  took  on  him  the  seed  of  Abraham.  Touch  him, 
grasp  him,  look  at  him,  watch  him,  and  he  is  Man  and  Woman, 
male  and  female,  the  ideal  man,  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of 
our  flesh.  "  We  have  not  a  High  Priest  that  cannot  be  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities  :  he  was  in  all  points  tempted 
like  as  we  are. ' ' 

This  is  the  tender  power  of  his  priesthood  to  my  soul.  Peter 
touches  the  exact  music  of  the  occasion  when  he  says,  "  Casting 
all  your  care  upon  him,  for  .  .  ."  O  listen  to  the  following  and 
completing  words.  How  grandly  the  sentence  would  have  read 
had  it  stood  thus,  "  Casting  all  your  care  upon  him,  for  he  is 
omnipotent."  That  would,  however,  have  touched  but  a  feeble 
chord.  Only  the  few  can  respond  to  sublimity.  The  sunset  is 
wasted  upon  most  eyes.  But  all  hearts  can  answer  the  sympathetic 
— so  the  glorious  sentence  stands  not  as  I  have  suggested  it,  but, 
"  Casting  all  your  care  upon  him,  for  he  careth  for  you."  It 
is  the  moral  sublimity,  not  the  intellectual  ?nagnificence,  that  touches 
the  universal  heart ! 

Herein  is  the  secret  of  the  power  of  evangelical  preaching, 
above  all  philosophical  abstraction  and  ethical  prelection.  These 
touch  but  a  few,  but  evangelical  unction,  sympathy,  tenderness, 
grace,  these  belong  to  the  universal  heart,  and  the  tone  is  detected 
as  the  tone  of  a  universal  speech.  Be  quite  sure  of  your  Lord's 
humanity.  Do  not  allow  any  section  of  the  theological  church  to 
steal  that  from  you,  as  if  it  belonged  to  that  section  as  a  special 
possession.  When  a  theologian  of  any  school  arises  and  says, 
"  I  believe  in  the  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,"  we  ought  to  answer, 
"And  so  do  we."  More  fully,  more  pathetically,  and  more 
trustfully,  we  accept  more  from  his  blood  than  any  school  of 
theologians  can  accept,  who  doubt  or  hesitate  concerning  his 
divinity.  A  body  was  prepared  for  him  :  he  interrupted  no  law 
of  nature  :  whilst  on  the  cross  he  said,  "  I  thirst," — what  wonder, 
with  his  blood  drained  from  his  heart,  what  wonder  if  the  peasant 


THE   HUMANITY  OF  CHRIST.  275 

thirsted  P  The  wonder  was  that  he  confessed  the  thirst.  But  it 
was  a  wonder  of  love,  a  wonder  of  condescension,  a  wonder  that 
concealed  a  revelation.  The  words  "  I  thirst"  did  not  indicate  a 
merely  personal  accident,  they  revealed  and  confirmed  a  sublime 
doctrine  and  fact,  namely  the  humanity,  and  the  priestly  humanity, 
of  the  suffering  Son  of  God.  He  suppressed  no  natural  instinct — 
"Son,"  said  he,  "behold  thy  mother. "  He  created  new  rela- 
tionships whilst  he  was  sundering  old  ones.  "Woman,"  said 
he,  "  behold  thy  son,  thy  support,  thy  friend,  thy  refuge  in  time 
of  bitterest  loneliness  and  childlessness."  He  set  up  a  new 
household  whilst  the  temple  of  his  body  was  being  torn  asunder, 
he  made  whilst  he  was  being  unmade.  He  smothered  no  natural 
emotion;  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?" 
uttered  in  a  strange  language,  "  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabachthani." 
Hark,  is  it  Hebrew  ?  is  it  Syriac  ? — what  is  it  ?  They  could  not 
tell.  The  bystanding  Jews  said,  "  He  calls  for  Elias."  He  was 
always  misunderstood  !  The  Son  of  God  calling  for  Elias  ? 
Always  were  his  great  magnificent  words  dragged  down  to  little 
applications  and  accidental  circumstances,  by  the  mean  interpreters 
who  thronged  around  him,  crowding  him. with  their  society,  but 
not  enlarging  him  with  their  thoughts. 

These  Sayings  do  more  than  reveal  the  complete  humanity  of 
Christ  :  they  show  the  grandeur  of  his  moral  nature.  I  do  not 
dwell  on  the  tenderness  of  his  care  for  his  mother,  but  I  would 
point  to  the  sublimity  of  his  forgiveness.  It  was  his  then  to  be 
the  great  Man,  to  work  the  last  miracle,  to  mount  a  throne  from 
the  very  head  of  the  Cross  itself.  He  would  have  his  murderers 
forgiven  !  It  is  grander  to  forgive  than  to  slay !  we  should  have 
no  enemies  if  we  could  really  pray  for  them.  They  in  themselves 
might  continue  to  be  enemies,  but  in  our  hearts  there  would  be 
no  sting  of  enmity.  When  did  the  Lord  turn  the  captivity  of  Job 
— when  he  gave  his  most  brilliant  retort  to  his  three  comforters  ? 
No.  The  Lord  turned  the  captivity  of  Job  when  he  prayed  for 
his  friends  ! 

It  is  always  so  :  it  is  a  subtle  and  beneficent  law  in  the  divine 
revelation,  and  the  administration  of  human  affairs,  that  we  get 
our  greatest  blessings  in  our  most  religious  moments.  Examine 
what  has  been  done  to  you,  analyze  it,  weigh  it  in  scales  of  your 


276  MATTHEW  XXVII.  55-66. 

own  making,  measure  it  by  standards  of  your  own  setting  up,  and 
then  you  will  but  aggravate  the  enmity  which  you  have  already 
deplored.  But  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you  and 
persecute  you,  and  though  no  answer  fall  upon  them,  the  reply  will 
surely  enter  your  own  heart,  and  in  the  sanctuary  of  your  conscious- 
ness there  will  be  rest,  and  even  joy. 

But  I  would  dwell  still  more  upon  the  magnificence  of  Christ's 
religious  conceptions.  He  called  himself  "  forsaken,"  but  he  did 
not  therefore  deny  the  existence  of  God  ;  he  did  not  allow  the 
experience  of  a  moment  to  becloud  and  destroy  the  eternal 
realities.  That  is  where  so  many  of  us  fail.  God  takes  away  the 
delight  of  our  eyes,  and  we  therefore  turn  our  back  upon  him, 
and  deny  what  is  infinitely  of  more  consequence  than  his  existence 
— we  deny  his  love  !  Of  what  avail  is  it  to  confess  his  existence  if 
we  deny  his  providence,  his  compassion,  his  mercy  ?  What  does 
it  amount  to  if  we  have  a  theological  God,  but  no  God  gleaming  in 
the  compassion  which  bedews  every  morning,  and  shining  in  the 
light  which  gladdens  the  whole  day  ?  Better  deny  his  existence 
and  shout  blasphemous  oaths  into  his  blank  heaven,  than  profess 
to  acknowledge  his  existence  and  yet  deny,  or  distrust  or  disown 
his  love  and  his  claims. 

Let  us  read  this  cry  of  forsakenness  in  the  light  of  the  other 
Sayings,  and  we  shall  see  what  it  meant.  How  many  of  us  have 
taken  out  this  dark  expression  and  reasoned  gloomily  about  it, 
instead  of  setting  it  in  its  right  place,  and  allowing  all  the  lights  to 
shine  upon  it  and  illustrate  its  great  sadness  and  mystery  ? 
"  Forsaken,"  yet  not  without  consciousness  of  God :  calling  him 
"  Father,"  committing  the  spirit  into  the  Father's  hands.  He  is 
not  ' '  forsaken' '  who  can  in  the  darkness  say,  ' '  Father. ' '  For- 
saken, yet  confident  in  prayer,  spending  his  last  breath  in  supplica- 
tion— addressing  the  heavens,  making  no  appeal  to  the  earth  : 
sending  enough  downwards  to  prove  his  humanity,  but  sending 
upwards  the  great  breadth  and  force  of  his  life.  "  Father,  receive 
me,  Father,  forgive  them" — he  cannot  be  much  forsaken  who  can 
thus  trust  his  spirit  to  the  Unseen  One  ! 

Forsaken,  yet  forgiving  all ;  dying  with  the  word  of  clemency 
upon  his  lips,  anticipating  and  outblotting  the  great  judgment 
about    this    solemn    tragedy.      He    was   not   forsaken  who   thus 


CHRIST  FORSAKEN  OF  GOD.  277 

prayed.  ' '  Why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?' '  ay,  that  is  the  ques- 
tion of  the  ages,  and  that  cry  was  meant  for  our  consideration 
rather  than  as  an  expression  of  his  own  loneliness.  "  Why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me?"  Let  the  ages  answer  that  inquiry!  let  the 
church  ponder  it  !  let  the  world  renounce  all  smaller  inquiries, 
and  answer  this  infinite  perplexity  !  It  is  a  question  we  must 
answer  :  God  made  no  reply  ;  we  must  find  out  why  it  was  that 
for  one  moment  Christ  was  orphaned  and  left  alone.  When  we 
come  to  consider  this  question  in  other  relations  we  may  find  that 
it  was  part  of  the  grand  priestly  process  that  Christ  should  feel  the 
woe  of  orphanage  ;  we  shall  find  that  this  was  no  reflection  upon 
his  purity  or  his  purpose,  but  one  of  the  infinitely  solemn  secrets 
of  the  impenetrable  decrees  of  heaven.  Maybe  that  sin  explained 
the  forsakenness,  that  sin  wrought  out  this  isolation  ;  the  Lamb 
must  stand  back  in  terrible  loneliness  to  receive  the  last  shock  of 
the  very  storm  which  he  came  to  silence  and  to  sanctify. 

Then  mark  how  these  Sayings  show  Christ's  assurance  of  the 
completion  of  his  work.  He  bowed  his  head  and  said,  "It  is 
finished."  "It" — what?  The  sentence  relates  to  something 
beside  and  beyond  itself.  "  It  is  finished" — how  much  is  signi- 
fied by  that  meanest  of  the  pronouns.  Who  can  tell  what  visions 
enthralled  his  attention  at  that  moment  ?  how  the  eternal  purpose 
stood  before  him  like  a  tower  on  which  the  top  stone  had  just 
been  laid  ;  how  some  immeasurable  cycle  of  time  completed  itself 
and  another  cycle  of  vaster  sweep  and  intenser  light  began  its 
revolution.  What  decrees  were  fulfilled,  what  prophecies  matured, 
what  hearts  enlightened,  what  worlds  opened — none  can  tell.  The 
atonement  was  completed,  the  answer  to  the  law  perfected,  the 
way  to  the  Father  was  opened,  the  love  of  God  shone  upon  the 
world  without  a  cloud  to  interrupt  its  light,  and  righteousness  and 
peace  kissed  each  other  over  the  covenant  fulfilled. 

In  the  light  of  these  reflections  turn  to  the  little  incidents  that 
make  up  the  rest  of  this  chapter,  and  in  those  incidents  you  find 
bewildered  but  undespairing  love.  "  Many  women  were  there 
beholding  afar  off,  which  followed  Jesus  from  Galilee,  ministering 
unto  him."  They  stood  their  ground,  and  were  saying  just  what 
Christ  was  saying,  in  a  sense  their  own.  They  said,  "  My  Jesus, 
my  Jesus,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"     Had  he  forsaken  them  ? 


278  MATTHEW  XXVII.  55-66. 

No  more  than  God  had  forsaken  him.  See  in  their  loneliness 
some  hint  of  the  meaning  of  his  own,  "  I  will  come  again.  After 
three  days  I  will  rise  again.  Destroy  this  temple  and  in  three 
days  I  will  build  it  again."  It  was  a  momentary  forsakenness  ;  it 
recalled  an  ancient  prophecy — "  For  a  small  moment  have  I 
forsaken  thee,  but  with  everlasting  mercies  will  I  gather  thee." 

Then  here  is  what  we  always  find  in  the  whole  Christian  history, 
and  perhaps  in  the  individual  story  as  well — Help  from  an  un- 
expected quarter.  ' '  When  the  even  was  come,  there  came  a  rich 
man  of  Arimatha^a,  named  Joseph,  who  also  himself  was  Jesus' 
disciple  ;  he  went  to  Pilate  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus."  Help 
from  an  unexpected  quarter  !  the  evening  having  a  star  all  its 
own  !  This  star  was  not  seen  in  the  bright  light,  it  shone  "  when 
the  even  was  come."  The  evening  brings  us  all  together  :  morn- 
ing scatters  us,  evening  reconstitutes  the  household  and  resanctifies 
the  home.  Thank  God  for  evening  stars,  for  night  glories,  for 
jewellery  gleaming  through  the  darkness.  We  have  seen  some  of 
God's  bright  stars  when  the  night  settled  upon  our  houses,  but 
what  we  have  seen  is  but  a  dim  hint  of  the  glory  that  shall  be 
revealed. 

And  here  also  we  have  a  confession  of  human  weakness.  They — 
the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees — remembered  what  the  disciples 
had  forgotten.  The  disciples  required  to  be  reminded  of  the 
resurrection  ! — "  Then  remembered  they  the  saying  that  he  would 
rise  again," — but  the  enemies  treasured  it.  Our  enemies  catch 
tones  in  our  speech  which  our  friends  sometimes  miss.  Those 
who  watch  us  most  carefully  with  a  view  to  our  destruction  write 
down  in  their  note-books  sentences  which  our  friends  hardly  hear. 
"  Sir,"  said  they,  "  we  remember  that  that  deceiver  said  while  he 
Avas  yet  alive,  After  three  days  I  will  rise  again."  So  they  would 
have  precautions  taken.  Pilate  said  unto  them,— I  wonder  with 
how  much  of  irony, — "  Ye  have  a  watch — go  your  way,  make  it 
as  sure  as  ye  can."  As  ye  can  :  go  your  way — wave  your  hands 
to  the  rising  sun,  and  forbid  him  to  advance.  What  a  fool's 
errand  !  Go  your  way  :  seal  up  the  Spring,  and  tell  it  that  this 
year  we  shall  have  no  vernal  wind  and  no  vernal  blossoming. 
What  a  fool's  errand  !  Go  your  way  and  tell  Arcturus  and  his 
sons  to  shine  no  more,  and  bid  the  Pleiades  vanish  from  the 
heavens  they  have  illumed  so  long.     What  a  fool's  errand  ! — but 


THE  ENEMY  DEFEATED.  279 

a  philosopher's  undertaking  compared  to  sealing  the  tomb  in  which 
lay  the  Son  of  God. 

So  shall  all  our  enemies  be  disappointed,  if  we  ourselves  be 
right ;  so  all  sealing  and  watching  shall  come  to  an  ignominious 
end,  if  the  thing  buried  be  only  the  body,  and  not  the  soul  that 
cannot  die  ! 


XCIV. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  if  thy  blessing  be  given  unto  us,  we  shall  know  no 
more  any  pain  of  want  or  any  weakness  of  fear.  Send  thine  angels  to  us 
to  tell  us  what  thou  wouldst  have  us  do.  With  the  music  of  their  mes- 
sage in  our  ears  we  shall  run,  if  with  fear  yet  with  great  joy,  to  bring  thy 
disciples  word.  The  word  is  thine,  every  letter  and  tone  of  it  ;  it  is  not 
ours  else  it  would  perish  in  the  wind  which  first  hears  it,  but  it  is  thy 
word,  full  of  the  music  of  thine  own  heart,  tender  with  the  tremulousriess 
cf  thine  own  love,  and  because  it  is  thy  word  and  none  other,  it  shall  find 
acceptance  in  the  earth,  and  make  the  whole  world  pure  and  glad. 
Herein  is  our  trust,  here  do  we  find  the  light  of  our  hope,  into  this  prom- 
ise as  into  a  rock  do  we  run  in  the  time  of  darkness  and  desperate  sor- 
row. When  thou  dost  try  our  faith,  we  would  that  our  faith  might  be 
strongest  ;  when  the  cloud  is  darkest,  we  would  break  it  up  by  the  ur- 
gency and  penetration  of  our  vehement  cry  ;  when  the  night  is  longest 
we  would  charm  away  all  its  darkness  by  continual  songs  of  hope.  This 
is  the  victory  which  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith.  Lord, 
increase  our  faith.  Faith  is  the  gift  of  God  :  we  ask  thee  for  it  now,  with 
loving  and  expectant  heart. 

We  come  to  thee  by  the  way  appointed,  broad  as  thine  own  love,  and 
bright  as  thine  own  heaven — Jesus  Christ,  the  Living  Priest,  by  whom 
we  have  received  the  atonement,  and  because  of  his  sacrifice  and  inter- 
cession we  shall  have  all  things  and  shall  truly  abound  in  all  heavenly 
bestowals,  and  in  us  shall  there  be  a  daily  inspiration  that  shall  renew 
our  strength  and  our  hope. 

We  have  come  to  bless  thee  with  many  words  and  many  songs,  to 
recall  all  thy  tender  mercies,  though  it  be  impossible  so  to  do,  to  set  our 
memory  upon  the  miracle  of  complete  recollection.  Lord  help  us  to  do 
what  we  cannot  do — but  in  the  straining  attempt  to  do  it,  we  shall 
increase  the  strength  which  is  mocked,  and  shall  show  thee  how  loving  is 
our  grateful  heart. 

Thou  hast  been  with  us  all  the  day,  so  that  we  hardly  know  one  day 
from  another,  so  Sabbatic  has  been  the  quietness  of  the  whole  week,  so 
tender  the  suggestion  of  every  shining  hour.  Yet  dost  thou  give  us 
special  mercies  amid  all  that  is  even  unusual.  Thou  raisest  up  moun- 
tains, the  higher  the  one  than  the  other,  even  in  the  land  of  great  hills. 
Thou  dost  send  upon  us  unexpected  joy,  and  if  now  and  again  thou  dost 


THE   TEXT.  28  r 

touch  the  foundation  of  our  tower,  it  is  that  we  may  learn  that  if  our 
foundation  be  not  in  God  it  is  insecure.  How  terrible  art  thou,  and  yet 
how  gentle  :  in  wrath  remember  mercy,  in  the  day  of  judgment  look  upon 
the  bow  of  promise,  and  in  all  the  fire  of  thine  indignation  against  sin, 
remember  how  frail  we  are,  a  leaf  that  fadeth  and  a  shadow  that  fleeth 
away.  Enable  us  to  work  well  during  the  hours  of  light,  knowing  that 
the  night  cometh  wherein  no  man  can  work.  Give  us  a  right  view  of  the 
work  of  thine  house,  may  we  feel  that  there  is  no  slavery  in  thy  bondage, 
that  thy  captivity  is  freedom,  and  that  to  be  the  Lord's  slaves  is  to  be  the 
Lord's  sons. 

Thou  knowest  what  our  life  is,  shattered  and  torn,  lying  around  us  in 
many  a  ruin  without  shape  or  meaning  ;  thou  knowest  how  our  vows 
have  been  broken,  and  our  prayers  have  been  plucked  back  from  heaven 
without  answer  and  without  pressure  ;  thou  knowest  us  altogether — 
behold  we  have  but  a  handful  of  days  to  live,  do  thou  pity  us,  spare  us, 
and  work  out  in  us  all  the  way  of  thine  own  love.  Enable  us  to  live  the 
larger  life,  to  look  upon  the  whole  revelation  of  thy  truth  with  the  eyes  of 
the  heart,  which  take  the  whole  sight,  and  which  seeing  perceive  also. 

Lift  the  burden  where  it  is  too  heavy,  dry  the  tears  where  they  do  not 
enlarge  the  vision  but  blind  it,  open  for  us  ways  upon  roads  that  are  at 
present  inaccessible,  give  us  a  humble,  heartfelt  trust  in  our  Father's 
goodness,  and  may  we  stand  upon  that  as  upon  a  rock  that  cannot  be 
shaken.  Go  after  the  prodigal  whom  our  prayers  fail  to  overtake,  bring 
back  the  wanderer  who  has  left  all  the  common  roads  of  life  and  is 
groping  in  thickets  and  wildernesses  which  we  cannot  penetrate.  Nurse 
our  sick  ones,  lift  then;  awhile  from  the  hot  bed  and  give  them  rest  within 
thine  arms— lay  them  down  again  with  thine  own  gentleness,  and  give 
them  sleep. 

Baptize  all  our  little  ones  with  dew  from  heaven  :  preserve  their  lives 
that  they  may  become  good  and  great  and  wise  and  honourable.  Watch 
our  houses  that  they  be  not  broken  in  upon  with  violence  :  may  we  find 
a  sanctuary  on  the  hearthstone  and  the  beginning  of  heaven  in  the  inner- 
most joys  of  the  house. 

We  say  this  in  the  dear,  great,  tender  Name,  we  baptize  our  prayer 
with  the  blood  of  the  cross — without  that  baptism  what  is  our  prayer  but  a 
speech  of  the  lips  ?  Hear  us  at  the  cross,  and  as  thou  hearest  come  to  us 
with  assurance  of  perfect  pardon  and  release  from  every  sin  and  every 
accusation,  and  may  we  find  a  Sabbath  within  the  Sabbath,  the  peace  of 
nature  enclosed  within  the  larger  peace  of  God's  own  calm.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxviii.  1-10. 

1.  In  the  end  of  the  Sabbath  (late  on  the  Sabbath),  as  it  began  to  dawn 
toward  the  first  day  of  the  week,  came  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other 
Mary  to  see  the  sepulchre. 

2.  And,  behold,  there  was  a  great  earthquake  ;   for  the  angel  of  the 


282  MATTHEW  XXVIII.  i-io. 

Lord  descended  from  heaven,  and  came  and  rolled  back  the  stone  from 
the  door,  and  sat  upon  it. 

3.  His  countenance  was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  white  as  snow  : 

4.  And  for  fear  of  him  the  keepers  did  shake,  and  became  as  dead  men. 

5.  And  the  angel  answered  and  said  unto  the  women,  Fear  not  ye  : 
for  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus,  which  was  crucified. 

6.  He  is  not  here  :  for  he  is  risen,  as  he  said.  Come,  see  the  place 
where  the  Lord  lay. 

7.  And  go  quickly,  and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead  : 
and,  behold,  he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee  ;  there  shall  ye  see  him  : 
lo,  I  have  told  you. 

8.  And  they  departed  quickly  from  the  sepulchre  with  fear  and  great 
joy  ;  and  did  run  to  bring  his  disciples  word. 

9.  And  as  they  went  to  tell  his  disciples,  behold,  Jesus  met  them,  say- 
ing. All  hail.  {Rejoice  !)  And  they  came  and  held  (clasped)  him  by  the 
feet,  and  worshipped  him. 

10.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them.  Be  not  afraid  :  go  tell  my  brethren  (by 
spiritual  relationship)  that  they  go  into  Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see 
me. 

RE-UNION. 

JESUS  CHRIST  has  for  the  time  being  withdrawn  from  the 
page  we  are  perusing,  yet  we  can  think  of  nothing  but  him- 
self, even  during  his  temporary  absence.  After  the  high 
converse  we  have  had,  we  cannot  easily  fall  into  common  talk. 
The  sleeping  city  is  a  mean  sight  to  the  man  who  has  been  out 
early  and  come  down  from  the  mountain  whence  he  saw  the  sun 
rise.  To  him  the  sleeper  seems  to  be  almost  a  criminal  :  the 
sleeper  is  a  man  who  has  lost  an  opportunity  and  can  never  have 
that  opportunity  renewed  under  precisely  the  same  conditions.  So 
all  the  people  that  are  now  moving  upon  this  page,  up  to  a  given 
verse,  are  commonplace,  and  would  be  intolerable  but  for  the 
inquiry  which  strains  and  elevates  their  attention.  We  have  no 
patience  with  them,  but  their  inquiry  makes  a  common  standing 
ground  for  the  human  race.  Let  us  join  rt,  and  ply  heaven  with 
the  same  eager  and  expectant  question. 

"  In  the  end  of  the  Sabbath."  No  !  In  the  end  of  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  mayhap,  but  not  in  the  end  of  the  Sabbath.  Literally  in 
the  end  of  the  Sabbaths,  as  if  they  had  all  come  to  a  point  of 
termination.     The  Sabbath  is  only  about  to  begin  ;  there  are  no 


THE  CONTINUAL  DAWN.  283 

endings  in  God's  blessings — what  we  call  the  end  is  only  the  little 
rest  which  the  blessing  takes,  to  come  up  again  in  fuller  bloom 
and  tenderer  colour  and  larger  fruitfulness.  Why  have  you  this 
word  ' '  end ' '  in  your  speech  as  Christians  ?  There  is  an  end  to 
nothing  but  sin.  "  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is 
death. ' '  No  beauty  is  lost,  no  light,  no  speech  of  tenderness,  no 
comfort  of  benediction,  no  inspiration  of  truth.  The  Sabbath  can 
never  end  :  man  would  take  it  back  again  if  it  were  to  be  with- 
drawn. Forms  may  undergo  changes,  but  the  sabbatic  spirit,  the 
genius  of  rest,  the  elder  brother  of  the  days,  the  queen  of  the 
week,  the  shining  star  amid  all  the  galaxy  of  time — the  world 
would  not  willingly  let  die,  the  great  religious  heart  of  man  can 
never  allow  to  expire. 

"As  it  began  to  dawn."  Yes,  that  is  just  what  it  did. 
That  is  the  very  poetry  of  the  occasion  ;  the  word  written  with 
apparent  accident  is  the  very  expression  of  heaven.  It  began  to 
dawn, — a  new  tender  light  shot  up  in  the  eastern  sky,  the  orient 
trembled  with  a  new  presence,  and  glowed  as  with  an  infinite 
surprise.  Christianity  is  always  dawning  :  the  Sabbath  dawns 
over  all  the  world  ;  the  Sabbath  day  is  more  than  half  over  away 
down  in  the  eastern  lands — in  the  far-away  western  places,  men 
are  just  beginning  to  rise  now,  and  when  we  have  concluded  our 
service  they  will  begin  to  sing 

"  This  is  the  day  the  Lord  hath  made." 

In  the  highest  sense  that  can  challenge  the  imagination  and  sat- 
isfy all  the  religious  vision  that  is  in  us,  Christianity  is  a  continual 
dawning.  When  Christ  comes  the  light  comes  ;  when  Christ 
shines  upon  the  life  the  darkness  flees  away  ;  when  the  mind  gets 
its  first  true  conception  of  Christ,  it  is  as  if  a  shaft  of  light  were 
shot  from  a  great  firmament  of  gloom,  and  as  if  all  heaven  shone. 
It  began  in  the  beginning.  God  created  the  heavens  that  dawn 
every  day.  Believe  me,  we  live  in  beginnings.  Give  me  some 
hint  of  endings,  and  strength  goes,  inspiration  expires,  and  energy 
says,  ' '  There  is  no  longer  use  for  me  to  unfurl  the  banner,  or 
blow  the  trumpet's  bray  in  the  ear  of  the  dead.  Let  me  lie  down 
and  die  too. "  There  is  a  joyousness  about  the  dawn  and  the 
beginning,    the   stirring  tune,    the  hour    of   activity,   when  every 


284  MATTHEW  XXVIII.  i-io. 

energy  leaps  to  the  front,  and  every  power  says,  ' '  Baptize  me  for 
thy  service,  and  may  I  be  crowned  as  a  blessing  in  the  world's 
commonwealth." 

"As  it  began  to  dawn  towards  the  first  day. ' '  That  also  is 
just  what  it  did  !  Now  the  primacy  of  time  is  covered  with  the 
higher  primacy  of  grace.  The  "  first  day"  it  had  always  been 
since  time  was  broken  up  into  weeks  and  months  and  years.  For 
many  a  long  century  it  had  been  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  it  were 
by  nativity — but  now  it  is  born  again.  It  was  sown  in  corruption, 
it  is  raised  in  incorruption  ;  it  was  sown  a  little  glint  of  time,  it  rises 
big  with  eternal  splendour.  So  may  we  be  born  again.  You  are 
first  in  intellect,  —  would  that  you  were  also  first  in  goodness.  And 
you  are  first  in  energy, — would  that  you  were  also  first  in  prayer. 
You  in  the  third  place  are  first  in  wealth — would  God  every  golden 
piece  you  have  were  made  more  golden  still  by  being  transformed 
into  the  gold  of  the  sanctuary.  Be  not  satisfied  with  natural  or 
hereditary  primacies  ;  over  those  you  have  next  to  no  control,  it 
may  be  ;  but  in  this  primacy  of  goodness,  where  may  elevation 
cease  ?     There  is  no  terminal  point  on  that  heaven-ascending  line. 

The  women  came  to  the  sepulchre,  and  Luke  gives  us  some 
additional  and  illustrative  particulars  about  them  and  their  com- 
ing. According  to  Luke's  account,  the  women  came,  "  bringing 
the  spices  which  they  had  prepared."  Notwithstanding  they 
had  been  distinctly  told  that  Jesus  Christ  would  rise  again  on  the 
third  day,  with  that  singular  obstinacy  which  distinguishes  the 
prejudices  of  the  human  mind,  those  blessed  and  affectionate 
women  came  with  their  spices  to  embalm  their  Lord  !  How  can 
you  account  for  the  stubbornness  of  this  view  of  death  ?  The 
women  had  been  told,  and  told  by  Jesus  Christ  himself,  that  on 
the  third  day  he  would  rise  again,  and  yet  so  treacherous  is  the 
memory,  or  so  irreligious  the  heart,  that  Sight  staggers  Faith. 
The  women  saw  him  die  ;  any  recollection  of  a  promise  of 
"  rising  again"  must  have  died  in  that  death.  So  forgetting  the 
prediction,  or  regarding  it  as  a  sentiment  that  had  perished,  or 
otherwise  viewing  it  as  a  hope  rather  that  as  a  fact  which  lay  within 
the  possibility  of  accomplishment,  they  came  "  bringing  their 
spices  which  they  had  prepared." 

The  angel  chided  them.     Said  the  angel  to  them,  "  Remember 


MEMORY  CULTIVATED.  285 

how  he  spake,"  and  "  they  remembered  his  words,"  but  the  re- 
membrance of  his  words  would  have  been  of  no  avail  to  them  two 
hours  before  they  saw  the  angel.  If  they  had  found  the  stone  at 
the  door  of  the  sepulchre  they  would  have  remembered  no  such 
words — but  Sight  now  helped  Faith.  The  grave  was  empty,  the 
stone  rolled  away,  celestial  visitants  were  the  attendants  of  that 
gloomy  place,  and  out  of  the  depths  of  death  they  heard  the  voice 
of  Resurrection  ; — "  then  they  remembered  his  words."  That 
remembrance  is  all  but  fatal.  There  is  a  time  when  our  religious 
remembrances  will  rather  be  aggravations  of  our  sin  than  mitiga- 
tions of  our  mistakes.  What  was  it  to  remember  the  words  when 
the  grave  was  empty,  when  the  angels  were  filling  it  with  morning 
light,  when  the  stone,  fastened,  sealed,  watched,  was  hurled  back  ? 
It  was  nothing  to  remember  then.  That  is  the  true  faith  which 
sees  in  the  darkness  as  well  as  in  the  light,  which  goes  to  the  grave 
bearing  no  spices  but  the  spices  of  the  immovable  certainty  of  the 
resurrection  and  the  life.  You  take  your  spices  to  your  graves  in 
the  form  of  flowers  and  immortelles.  It  is  pardonable,  because 
the  bones  of  the  dead  body  are  still  hidden  under  the  sod  ;  it 
would  be  better  if  we  could  look  straight  up  into  the  blue  morning 
and  breathe  upward  the  spice  of  a  concentrated  life  and  a  hope- 
ful and  all-conquering  spirit. 

Memory  is  to  be  touched  in  many  ways.  The  old  sermons  will 
yet  come  upon  us  with  great  vividness,  the  mighty  prayers  that 
took  us  up  to  heaven's  gate  so  that  we  had  a  mind  to  alight  there 
and  never  return,  will  come  back  with  all  but  infinite  energy  and 
pressure  upon  the  forgetful  mind.  And  all  the  holy  sabbaths  that 
stand  out  upon  the  plain  of  time,  like  great  mountains,  will  rush 
upon  the  recollection  and  become  the  chief  of  our  joys,  or  the 
most  oppressive  and  unanswerable  of  our  accusations.  Cultivate 
your  memory  j  live  in  your  religious  recollections  ;  if  you  let  your 
yesterdays  die,  I  wonder  not  that  your  to-morrows  are  amongst 
the  darkest  of  your  fears.  Rather  would  I  say,  The  Lord  who  de- 
livered me  out  of  the  paw  of  the  lion,  and  out  of  the  paw  of  the 
bear,  will  deliver  me  from  the  hand  of  this  uncircumcised  Philis- 
tine. Remember  the  old  battles  and  the  old  victories,  the  ancient 
fears,  and  the  light  that  drove  them  away  like  shadows  that  could 
stand  no  longer  in  their  presence,  and  say  with  heightening  thank- 
fulness, 


286  MATTHEW  XXVIII.  i-io. 

"  His  love  in  time  past  forbids  me  to  think 
He'll  leave  me  at  last  in  trouble  to  sink." 

Do  not  let  history  be  wasted  upon  you,  your  experience  evaporate 
and  be  found  no  more  ;  rightly  estimated,  human  experience 
ought  to  be  amongst  the  richest  of  human  treasures. 

For  what  purpose  did  the  women  come  ?  According  to  Matthew 
they  came  to  "  see  the  sepulchre."  An  atheist  might  have  done 
that,  any  man  might  have  done  it — but  when  Mary  Magdalene 
and  the  other  Mary  do  it,  it  seems  as  if  the  Heavens  were  closed 
up  and  the  earth  were  a  place  that  had  no  sky.  We  trust  to  the 
zvomanly  heart  to  keep  up  our  noblest  hopes,  we  give  ourselves  over 
into  the  custody  of  that  higher  love  and  trust.  When  Mary 
Magdalene  and  the  other  Mary  cease  to  pray,  no  man  will  have 
audacity  enough  to  lift  his  face  heavenward.  The  mother  must 
save  us,  the  housewife  must  make  the  house  a  sanctuary,  the 
womanly  heart  must  keep  the  altar-fire  ablaze. 

They  came  "  to  see  the  sepulchre,"  and  they  did  see  it  :  they 
saw  more  of  it  than  they  expected  to  see — they  saw  it  turned  in- 
side out.  So  may  all  our  expectancy  be  fulfilled  !  We  came  to 
the  sanctuary  to  see — what  P  One  another  ?  an  individual  ?  an  oc- 
casion ?  a  service  ?  a  sepulchre  ?  May  we  all  be  disappointed  in 
this  same  happy  way  :  may  those  who  come  to  see  the  outside, 
the  mechanical,  and  the  transitory,  see  the  Lord's  own  face, 
aglow  with  the  light  which  fills  all  heaven  with  its  splendour. 
Many  have  gone  with  aching  hearts  to  see  some  religious  sight, 
who  have  returned  with  great  joy. 

"  And  behold  the  angel  of  the  Lord  had  rolled  back  the  stone 
from  the  door."  Mark  describes  this  angel  beautifully  ;  Mark 
took  more  notice  of  certain  particulars  than  any  of  the  other 
evangelists ;  for  the  detail  of  the  picture,  always  consult  the 
evangelist  Mark.  According  to  Mark  the  angel  was  -xyoung  man. 
Are  there  any  old  men  in  heaven  ?  None.  There  are  really  no 
old  men  on  earth,  if  we  take  the  right  view  of  the  case.  How  old 
are  you,  trembling  pilgrim  ?  Do  you  say  eighty  ?  I  can  show 
you  a  tree  three  hundred  years  old.  Do  you  say  you  have  passed 
the  fourscore  years,  and  now  there  remains  but  a  little  more  light, 
and  you  will  soon  be  gone  ?  You  are  an  old  man,  but  you  are  a 
young  being  :  the  age  is  an  accident,  the   existence  is  a  fact.      Do 


THE   YOUNG  MAN'S   WORK.  287 

not  give  way  to  old  age,  it  is  only  a  mockery,  it  is  not  really  old 
age  :  you  are,  if  in  Christ,  always  young.  How  else  could  the 
narrative  read  than  that  a  young  man  came  and  did  this  ?  For  God 
could  have  sent  no  old  man,  having  none  in  his  great  household. 
"Who  are  these,  arrayed  in  white  robes?  and  knowest  thou 
whence  they  came?"  "These  are  they  who  have  washed  their 
robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Therefore 
are  they  before  the  throne  night  and  day,  and  serve  God  in  his 
temple.  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more, 
neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat."  A  youth 
that  has  no  necessities,  a  youth  on  which  time  can  write  no 
wrinkle.  We  shall  all  be  young  some  day,  when  we  are  clothed 
upon  with  our  house  from  heaven  !  God  is  always  sending 
young  men  down  into  the  world  to  roll  its  stones  away,  to  break 
up  its  rocks,  to  liberate  its  captives,  and  to  give  new  dawning. 
Encourage  the  young,  be  large-minded  and  pitiful  toward  their 
mistakes,  and  see  in  the  outputting  of  their  energy  the  possibility 
of  a  noble  and  beneficent  manhood. 

He  rolled  away  the  stone.  The  stone  was  turned  to  new  uses, 
for  the  angel  "  sat  upon  it."  What  thought  the  stone  had  oc- 
casioned by  Joseph's  rolling  it  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  !  It 
was  kindly  meant  :  no  other  construction  could  possibly  be  put 
upon  Joseph's  act  in  that  matter.  It  was  sealed,  it  was  watched, 
it  was  guarded — and  yet  it  was  rolled  away.  God  sends  a  great 
wind  upon  the  earth  and  throws  down  your  towers  and  temples 
and  towns  and  fortresses — an  invisible  wind— you  cannot  tell 
whence  it  comes  or  whither  it  goes,  but  it  comes  in  great  shocks 
and  tries  the  foundations  of  your  structures,  breaks  the  "ships  of 
Tarshish,  and  troubles  the  sea  as  with  great  agony,  and  yet  it  is 
only  a  wind,  without  shape,  without  colour,  without  measure, 
almost  without  name,  invisible — but  when  you  see  the  ships  hur- 
ried before  it,  and  all  their  proud  mast-work  torn  to  rags  and 
thrown  into  the  foaming  deep,  and  see  great  structures  bulge  out 
and  fall  flat  down  on  the  astonished  earth,  we  feel  how,  in  some 
aspects,  we  are  truly  little  and  weak. 

Now  the  angel  speaks,  and  I  would  hear  every  word  he  says. 
"  Fear  not  ye,  for  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus  which  was  crucified. 
He  is  n^t  here,  for  he  is  risen  as  he  said  :  come,  see  the  place 
where  the  Lord  lay,  and  go  quickly  and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  is 


MATTHEW  XXVIII.  i-io. 


risen  from  the  dead,  and  behold  he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee, 
there  shall  ye  see  him  :  lo,  I  have  told  you."  You  could  not 
have  put  more  matter  into  so  short  a  compass.  The  angels  speak 
concisely,  they  have  specific  messages  to  deliver,  and  with  miserli- 
ness of  language  they  crush  into  every  syllable  all  the  meaning 
which  it  will  hold.  The  speech  was  sympathetic — "  Fear  not  ye." 
The  speech  was  heart-reading — "  For  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus." 
The  speech  was  explanatory- — "  He  is  not  here,  he  is  risen,  as  he 
said."  The  speech  was  comforting — "  Come,  see  the  place  where 
the  Lord  lay."  The  speech  was  inspiring — "  Go  ye."  The 
angel  was  the  first  to  preach  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection  ;  all  other 
preachers  follow  the  "young  man"  who  announced  the  Resur- 
rection and  sent  the  women  to  proclaim  it. 

What  was  the  effect  of  the  preaching  ?  The  women  departed 
quickly  from  the  sepulchre  with  fear  and  great  joy,  and  did  run 
to  bring  his  disciples  word.  Haste,  joy,  energy,  this  is  the  mis- 
sionary way,  this  is  the  true  ministerial  way,  this  is  the  great 
lecture  upon  the  method  of  preaching.  They  departed  quickly 
with  fear  and  great  joy,  reverence  and  infinite  rapture,  and  did 
run  to  bring  his  disciples  word.  We  have  fallen  into  a  mean 
amble,  we  have  slunk  off  and  let  every  racer  beat  us  ;  the  gospel 
messenger  lags  somewhere  in  the  rear,  he  is  outrun  by  many  a 
man.  We  want  more  quickness,  more  energy,  more  running 
power  in  the  church.  We  are  indifferent,  we  are  respectable,  we 
are  reluctant,  we  are  calculating,  we  are  selfish.  Rather  would  I 
belong  to  a  Christianity  that  is  censurable  from  a  worldly  point  of 
view  by  reason  of  its  vehemence  and  energy,  than  belong  to  some 
perversion  of  Christianity  which  regards  its  religion  and  its 
slumber  as  coequal  and  synonymous  terms. 

And  as  they  went — it  always  so  happens  !  A  thing  is  never 
complete  in  itself  ;  incident  runs  into  incident,  and  the  whole 
work  is  carried  on  with  infinite  skill  to  perfectness,  to  symmetry 
and  life.  "  And  as  they  went,"  Jesus  met  them  !  No  man  can 
go  upon  his  errands  without  his  company.  Jesus  Christ  always 
meets  his  messengers  or  joins  them  or  overtakes  them  :  he  is 
alway  with  his  angels  to  the  end  of  the  world.  And  Jesus  said, 
"Go."  Some  day  we  shall  collect  the  incidents  in  which  that 
word  Go  is  used,  and  we  shall  see  how  wonderfully  God's  Spirit 


THE  PARTING    COMMAND.  289 

always  points  in  the  direction  of  movement,  aggression,  energy. 
"Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature."  With  such  a  "  GO"  ringing  in  our  ears,  with  the 
resonance  of  a  thunder-trumpet,  who  will  sit  down  or  stand  still 
or  forget  his  errand  ? 


xcv. 

PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  the  darkness  and  the  light  are  both  alike  unto  thee  : 
thou  dost  not  slumber  nor  dost  thou  sleep,  nor  are  thine  eyelids  weary 
and  heavy.  Thou  dost  cast  the  horseman  into  a  deep  sleep,  and  in  the 
time  of  his  slumber  thou  dost  work  out  the  great  wonders  of  thy  name, 
yea  thou  dost  blind  men  with  light  and  cause  the  day  to  be  unto  them  as 
the  night,  and  then  thou  dost  send  unto  them  revelations  and  messages 
from  heaven.  In  our  day  there  are  twelve  hours,  but  one  day  is  with  the 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  in  thy  sight  are  but  as 
one  day.  We  cannot  measure  thy  going,  we  are  surprised  and  overtaken 
by  sleep  ;  thou  dost  punctuate  our  time  with  nights  and  hours  of  forget- 
fulness,  so  that  we  cannot  piece  together  in  one  line  all  the  days  and 
hours  that  we  breathe.  Thou  only  art  sleepless,  thou  alone  dost  not 
slumber,  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  run  to  and  fio  throughout  the  whole  earth, 
and  there  is  nothing  hidden  from  the  penetration  of  thy  glance. 

We  own  before  thee  our  wickedness,  and  we  ask  thee  not  to  look  upon 
it  with  the  eyes  of  judgment,  but  to  look  upon  it  with  the  eyes  of  pity 
and  compassion.  Thou  seest  all  things,  and  yet  thou  dost  remember  that 
we  are  but  dust,  or  as  a  wind  that  cometh  for  a  little  time  and  then 
passeth  away.  In  wrath  thou  dost  remember  mercy,  thine  anger  is  kept 
back  by  thy  love,  thy  righteousness  does  not  strike  us  with  death,  because 
thy  compassion  pleads  for  the  life  which  we  have  forfeited. 

We  come  before  thee  with  praises,  with  songs  innumerable,  ay,  and 
sweet,  full  of  the  heart's  tenderest  tones,  because  of  thy  continual  loving- 
kindness  and  the  mercy  which  is  to  usward  everlasting.  We  find  thy 
mercy  always  near  at  hand  :  sometimes  we  have  to  seek  for  thy  judg- 
ments, but  thy  compassions  shine  in  all  the  light  of  the  day  and  in  all  the 
radiance  of  the  night.  We  live  because  thou  dost  love  us  ;  we  do  not 
deserve  our  life,  but  thou  dost  spare  it  unto  us  as  another  opportunity  to 
come  to  thee  and  be  renewed  by  thy  Spirit  and  by  thy  grace. 

Surely  thou  dost  delight  in  the  man  whom  thou  hast  made,  otherwise 
thou  wouldst  cut  him  down  as  with  a  sword  and  cast  out  his  name  from 
thy  recollection— but  thou  dost  spare  him  and  watch  him,  with  choice 
bread  dost  thou  nourish  him,  and  thou  dost  find  for  him  water  in  the 
wilderness,  and  thou  hast  promised  him  growth  and  joy  and  rest  in 
heaven.  Thou  hast  indeed  poured  out  thy  heart's  love  as  wine  to  be 
drunk  by  the  children  of  men.     How  great  is  thy  love,  how  tender  is  thy 


THE   TEXT.  291 

pity,  how  incessant  thy  concern  for  the  sons  of  men.  We  see  this  in  the 
cross,  we  feel  it  in  every  beat  of  the  heart  of  Christ,  we  behold  it  in  all 
the  revelation  of  the  atoning  ministry  of  the  Son  of  God.  In  him  we  live, 
in  him  is  our  rest,  in  him  is  the  spring  of  our  joy,  in  him,  through  him, 
and  by  him  alone  do  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  and  is  our 
life  lighted  with  a  celestial  hope. 

We  humbly  pray  thee  to  give  us  energy  to  meet  all  the  demands  that 
are  made  upon  our  life.  Give  us  the  responsive  spirit  which  quickly, 
with  all  the  joyous  obedience  of  love,  answers  every  appeal  of  thine. 
May  we  render  thee  no  reluctant  homage,  but  the  homage  of  loving 
hearts,  eager  to  pray,  to  adore,  to  sing,  and  to  serve.  Thus  may  our 
whole  life  be  a  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord,  heaven-ascending,  sweet-smelling, 
acceptable  unto  God,  that  thou  mayest  yet  have  joy  in  the  child  of  thine 
own  creation. 

Teach  us  how  frail  is  our  life  upon  the  earth,  how  brief  our  time  and 
how  certain  our  dissolution.  May  we  learn  lessons  from  those  that  are 
round  about  us  in  pain,  in  weakness,  in  poverty  and  in  distress,  and 
whilst  we  are  thankful  that  we  are  not  reduced  to  the  extremities  of  their 
condition,  may  we  remember  that  in  thy  providence  we  too  must  lay 
down  our  life  and  die.  May  we  therefore  give  our  hearts  unto  wisdom, 
with  all  industry  and  patience  ;  may  we  serve  every  hour  of  the  appointed 
time,  and  may  we  know  the  joy  of  those  servants  who  being  always  ready 
can  hardly  be  surprised  by  their  Lord's  coming. 

Speak  to  those  who  are  ill  at  ease,  and  cheer  them  with  secret  solaces 
from  heaven.  Save  those  that  are  helpless,  and  show  them  how  in  the 
extremity  of  weakness  thou  dost  magnify  thy  gracious  strength.  Visit 
all  who  to-day  need  thee  at  home,  because  the  house  is  dark,  or  empty, 
or  filled  with  intolerable  sadness.  Be  thou  the  Physician  at  home,  and 
the  preacher  of  thine  own  gospel  to  those  who  cannot  come  to  thy  church. 
Send  a  plentiful  rain  upon  thine  inheritance  and  refresh  and  bless  every 
root  which  thou  hast  planted. 

Care  for  our  little  ones,  make  their  infancy  the  reason  of  thy  tender- 
ness, and  because  they  are  so  little  do  thou  bow  thyself  down  to  take 
them  up,  and  in  all  such  condescensions  of  love  we  shall  see  the  mystery 
of  our  own  redemption,  and  know  how  true  it  is  that  we  are  not  saved 
by  works,  but  by  the  grace  of  God.     Amen. 

Matthew  xxviii.  11-20. 

11.  Now  when  they  were  going,  behold,  some  of  the  watch  came  into 
the  city  (related  by  Matthew  only),  and  shewed  unto  the  chief  priests  all 
the  things  that  were  done. 

12.  And  when  they  were  assembled  with  the  elders,  and  had  taken 
counsel,  they  gave  large  money  unto  the  soldiers, 

13.  Saying,  Say  ye,  His  disciples  came  by  night,  and  stole  him  away 
while  we  slept. 


292  MATTHEW  XXVIII.  11-20. 

14.  And  if  this  come  to  the  governor's  ears,  we  will  persuade  him,  and 
secure  you. 

15.  So  they  took  the  money,  and  did  as  they  were  taught  :  and  this 
saying  is  commonly  reported  among  the  Jews  until  this  day. 

16.  Then  the  eleven  disciples  went  away  into  Galilee,  into  a  {the) 
mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed  them. 

17.  And  when  they  saw  him,  they  worshipped  him  :  but  some  doubted. 

18.  And  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto  them,  saying,  All  power  is  given 
(all  authority  was  given)  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth. 

19.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations  (make  disciples  of  all  the 
heathen),  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  : 

20.  Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you  :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway  (all  the  days),  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world  (the  age).     Amen. 


THE  PINAL  COMMISSION. 

IT  may  be  a  little  fanciful,  but  I  would  ask  you  to  remember 
that  this  text  consists  of  ten  verses,  and  further  to  note  that  the 
ten  verses  are  equally  divided,  and  may  therefore  be  said  to  con- 
stitute, in  point  of  length,  two  equal  but  very  different  pro- 
grammes. It  may  assist  your  imagination,  and  contribute  to  your 
enjoyment  of  the  exposition,  if  you  will  suppose  yourselves  to  be 
holding  one  programme  in  the  one  hand  and  the  other  pro- 
gramme in  the  other.  The  one  is  the  programme  of  the  eneviies 
of  Christ,  the  other  is  the  programme  of  Christ  himself,  and  upon 
the  moral  difference  of  those  two  programmes  I  risk  the  whole 
Christian  controversy  !  In  studying  the* first  five  verses  we  shall 
see  what  the  enemies  did  :  when  we  come  to  the  second  five  verses 
we  shall  see  what  fesus  Christ  did,  and  let  me  repeat  that  upon  the 
difference  of  moral  tone,  as  between  those  two  policies  or  purposes, 
I  would  risk  every  claim  and  every  appeal  coming  under  the  title 
of  Christian. 

Our  attention  then  is  to  be  fixed  upon  a  moral  difference. 
Unusual  circumstances  have  transpired,  and  the  question  to  be 
considered  and  answered  by  us  is — What  different  effects  were  pro- 
duced by  those  unparalleled  events  ?  Circumstances  develop  the 
moral  nature  of  men  :  suddenly  placed  in  new  relations,  the  true 
nature  of  the  man  asserts  itself.  There  has  been  no  time  for  trim- 
ming,   for  preparation,    for  arrangement  of  a  calculating  kind  ; 


THE    TWO  PROGRAMMES.  293 

suddenly,  like  thunder  at  midnight,  the  men  on  both  sides 
have  been  awakened  to  a  new  consciousness,  and  the  question 
which  we  have  now  to  put  is — What  was  the  moral  complexion  and 
tone  and  purpose  of  that  new  condition  of  affairs  ?  You  have  the 
one  programme  in  your  right  hand,  you  have  the  other  programme 
in  your  left  hand — look  on  this  picture  and  on  this,  and  upon  the 
moral  difference  of  the  two  fear  not,  Christian  believers,  to  rest  and 
risk  the  whole  truth  concerning  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  the 
earth.     Let  us  see,  then,   how  the  case  stands  in  detail. 

We  have  first  of  all,  on  the  part  of  the  watch  and  those  with 
whom  they  communicated,  confusion.  The  mind  is  unbalanced, 
events  have  occurred  for  which  there  was  no  adequate  intellectual 
or  moral  preparation — so  one  is  saying  one  thing,  and  another 
another,  and  there  is  collision  between  the  statements,  and  con- 
fusion is  the  word  which  best  describes  the  condition  of  the  mind 
of  every  speaker  in  that  unhallowed  communication.  What  was 
then  to  be  done  ?  First  of  all  there  was  bribery,  the  money  power 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  those  who  had  some  part  to  play  in  the 
transaction.  For  money  you  can  buy  silence,  for  money  you  can 
procure  false  testimony,  for  money  you  can  make  the  next  step  in 
your  life  comparatively  easy.  Then  there  were  lies.  You  never 
find  a  single  sin.  Sin  does  not  dwell,  so  to  speak,  in  solitary 
places  and  alone  ;  sin  is  no  hermit,  sin  means  progeny,  multitude, 
allies,  confederates  of  every  name  and  every  colour.  "  Say  ye, 
His  disciples  came  by  night  and  stole  him  away  while  we  slept." 
Have  a  short  and  simple  message  to  deliver,  and  stick  to  it.  Put 
your  answer  into  words  of  one  syllable,  which  the  shallowest  head 
can  remember,  and  having  said  your  lesson  over  to  yourself  a  few 
times,  it  will  become  familiar  to  you,  and  when  you  are  asked  a 
question,  speak  it,  and  stand  by  it. 

But  that  very  simple  answer  incriminated  the  very  men  who 
used  it  !  For  observe,  they  were  to  confess  that  they  had  them- 
selves slept.  Why,  they  had  slept  all  the  day  before  in  order  to  be 
ready  for  the  sleeplessness  of  the  night  on  which  they  were  ap- 
pointed to  watch  the  sealed  tomb  !  But  they  did  not  see  that 
they  were  called  upon  to  make  criminals  of  themselves  whilst  they 
were  trying  to  bear  false  witness  against  others.  It  was  necessary, 
to  give  any  colour  of  probability  to  their  absurd  and  criminal 
statement,   that   they   should   confess   themselves   to   have    been 


294  MATTHEW  XXVIII.  11-20. 

unfaithful  to  their  trust.  How  difficult  it  is  to  be  consistently 
bad  !  How  all  but  impossible  so  to  patch  lies  together  that  they 
will  hold  up  like  a  piece  of  solid  masonry,  and  not  slip  cut  here 
and  there  and  let  the  roof  tumble  upon  all  that  they  had  supposed 
themselves  to  have  securely  built.  All  stories  have  to  be  rehearsed 
and  recast  and  calculated  and  tested  here  and  there,  and  have  to 
be  approved  by  men  of  cunning  and  subtle  mind,  and  then  they 
are  sent  away  to  make  the  best  they  can  of  such  conditions  as  may 
daily  arise. 

Followers  and  speakers  and  lovers  of  truth  have  no  arrangements 
to  make.  They  may  contradict  one  another  in  verbal  statement,  ' 
there  may  be  a  difference  as  to  the  recollection  of  dates,  there  may 
be  some  apparent  direct  contradiction  as  to  the  fact,  now  and 
again,  but  all  can  be  cleared  up  and  reconciled  and  settled  into 
self-consistent  harmony,  without  arrangement,  collusion,  or 
preparation  of  any  kind.  Men  are  not  afraid  to  own  that  they 
were  mistaken,  to  recall  a  statement,  to  amend  a  particular,  be- 
cause truth  is  always  proverbially  audacious  in  its  fearlessness.  It 
is  not  mere  boldness,  it  is  sublimely  religious  courage  which 
upholds  truth  in  all  the  criticism  and  cross-examination  to  which 
it  is  subjected. 

The  men  who  can  tell  lies  about  themselves,  can  easily  tell  lies 
about  others,  and  therefore  they  engage  to  say  that  the  disciples 
came  by  night  and  stole  him  away.  The  liar  takes  away  the 
character  of  other  men  easily,  because  he  has  first  taken  away  his 
own.  He  who  familiarizes  himself  with  suicide  of  a  moral  kind 
falls  easily  into  murder  of  a  moral  nature.  His  hand  is  in  it,  he 
is  to  the  manner  accustomed,  if  not  born.  Expect  no  justice  from 
the  liar.  Do  not  imagine  that  the  liar  will  become  a  truthful  man 
on  purpose  to  serve  your  interests  and  to  promote  your  good 
fortune  and  happy  progress.  The  liar  will  use  you,  the  false  man 
will  tear  down  all  that  is  sacred  in  your  name,  tender  in  your 
family,  and  holy  in  your  household.  Falsehood  is  bad,  through 
and  through  ;  to  it  there  is  nothing  sacred  ;  it  owns  no  altar,  it 
respects  no  oath,  it  abides  by  no  sacramental  bond.  It  will  drink 
to  your  health,  and  stab  you  under  the  fifth  rib  ;  it  will  smile 
upon  you,  and  plunder  not  your  property  but  your  soul — your 
soul !  Do  not  therefore  let  us  give  way  to  the  ever-damaging 
sophism  that  a  man  may   speak  lies  in  one  direction  and  be  quite 


THE  FOLLY  OF  CHRIST'S  ENEMIES.  295 

truthful  in  another.  There  are  no  such  anomalies  in  God's 
moral  creation.  He  who  can  deliberately  tell  one  lie,  will  tell  a 
thousand  if  he  has  anything  to  gain  by  the  cataract  of  false- 
hoods. 

Then  was  there  iruculence.  They  took  the  money  and  did  as 
they  were  told.  They  had  a  part  to  play,  they  were  paid  actors, 
they  were  professional  liars,  they  had  been  feed  to  swear  and  work 
on  the  other  side. 

This  then  is  the  programme  of  the  enemy.  I  find  nothing 
noble  in  it,  I  find  nothing  massively  sensible  about  it,  I  never 
saw  a  pack  of  men  so  little,  mean-minded,  sour-hearted,  wicked, 
vile,  bad — and  there  is  no  genius  in  their  craft.  Never  did  men 
go  out  into  the  world  with  so  palpably  absurd  an  account  of  a 
surprising  event.  Read  the  words  again,  and  tell  me  if  we  our- 
selves, were  we  evilly  disposed,  could  not  have  struck  out  some- 
thing more  ingeniously  happy  than  this — "  Say  ye,  His  disciples 
came  by  night  and  stole  him  away  while  we  slept.  "  How  could 
the  men  look  at  themselves  and  look  at  one  another,  after  perpe- 
trating a  piece  of  contemptible  folly  like  that  ?  How  could  they 
ever  shake  hands  one  with  the  other  in  anything  approaching 
trustful  fellowship  ?  How  ever  could  they  be  sent  out  on  any 
errand  again  so  long  as  their  life  lasted,  when  they  were  capable  of 
submitting  to  so  contemptible  a  humiliation  as  to  be  told  to  say 
that  the  disciples  outwitted  them  ?  Taking  their  own  account  of 
it,  the  disciples  were  sharper  than  they  were.  Taking  the  case 
exactly  as  they  put  it,  they  vaa.de/bols  of  themselves  as  well  as 
criminals.  They  had  a  charge,  they  were  armed,  the  stone  rolled 
to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  was  a  sealed  stone,  and  yet  they  said, 
for  money's  sake,  that  disciples  without  arm's  and  without  strategi- 
cal power  and  without  resources,  came  and  played  a  successful 
trick  upon  them  whilst  they  were  asleep  ! 

The  enemy  has  never  got  beyond  this  programme.  The  ene- 
mies of  Christianity  to-day  are  working  according  to  this  time- 
bill.  They  start  from  this  point,  take  this  journey,  and  arrive  at 
this  destination.  The  genius  of  anti-Christian  argument  has  never 
published  another  programme  than  the  one  which  is  now  before 
us.  The  words  may  have  been  altered,  a  little  re-arrangement  of 
sentences  may  have  taken  place,  some  difference  may  have  been 
made  in  the  punctuation,  but  in  substance,  in  moral  compass,  in 


296    .  MA  TTHE  W  XX  VIII.  11-20. 

intellectual  dignity,  the  programme  of  eighteen  hundred  years  ago 
is  the  programme  of  anti-Christians  this  day. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  programme  in  the  other  hand,  which  is 
the  programme  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  disciples.  The  eleven 
disciples  went  away  into  Galilee,  into  a  mountain  where  Jesus 
had  appointed  them — the  familiar  mountain,  the  grand  old  hill- 
church,  the  typical  place  !  No  dark  corner,  screened  off  for  dark 
uses,  but  a  mountain  caught  by  the  great  light  of  heaven  at  every 
point  of  its  rugged  majesty.  Not  into  a  cavern,  not  into  a  fissure 
of  a  rock,  not  into  the  depths  of  some  inaccessible  forest,  but  into 
a  MOUNTAIN.     There  is  health  already  in  these  living  lines. 

And  when  Jesus  came  to  them,  what  did  he  say  ?  "  All  power 
is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth  :  go  ye  therefore  and 
teach."  Who  would  not  rather  take  this  programme  as  his  life- 
guide  ?  Listen  to  the  difference  of  the  moral  tone.  On  the  one 
hand — "  Say  ye,  His  disciples  came  by  night  and  stole  him  away 
while  we  slept."  On  the  other,  Jesus  says,  "  Go  ye  therefore," 
that  is,  because  I  have  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  "  and 
TEACH."  In  Christianity,  when  allowed  to  speak  for  itself,  you 
always  hear  a  tone  of  high  spiritual  robustness.  Christianity  is  a 
lesson,  a  message,  and  has  to  be  taught,  and  teachers  are 
appointed  of  God  who  are  qualified  by  his  Spirit  and  grace  to  utter 
the  lesson  and  explain  alike  its  patent  and  its  hidden  eloquence. 

And  observe  how  this  teaching  is  bounded.  It  is  only  bounded 
by  "  all  nations."  This  is  the  beneficence  of  Christianity,  it  will 
not  teach  a.  few,  it  will  not  be  dwarfed  into  a  seel,  it  will  not  be 
bricked  up  within  given  boundaries,  and  held  there  as  the 
prisoner  of  any  number  of  partialists  ;  its  wings  were  meant  to 
flap  in  the  firmament,  and  its  voice  loud  and  sweet  enough  to  be 
heard  all  over  the  spaces,  and  to  cause  its  gospel  tone  to  fall  like 
a  revelation  upon  the  ear  of  every  listening  man. 

Compare  the  breadth  of  the  one  programme  with  the  narrowness 
of  the  other  ;  the  breezy,  fresh,  mountain-like  air  of  the  one  pro- 
gramme with  the  head-to-head,  whispering,  collusive,  calculated 
programme  of  the  enemy.  Judge  the  policies  of  men  by  their 
moral  tone.  Beware  of  men  who  set  traps  for  the  catching  of  the 
unsuspecting,  and  have  faith  in  those  teachers  who  have  a  grand 
moral  tone,  and  who  exhibit  in  every  breath  and  act  and  word  a 


TRUTH  AND  FALSEHOOD.  297 

life  worthy  of  the  majesty  which  they  can  but  imperfectly 
represent. 

These  are  the  two  programmes  which  are  before  the  world  this 
very  day.  First  of  all,  in  the  camp  of  the  enemies,  there  are 
perplexities  :  they  do  not  move  along  straight  lines  ;  for  a  time  the 
road  seems  broad  enough  and  open  enough,  and  they  get  along 
for  a  mile  or  two  with  considerable  speed,  and  then  suddenly 
there  is  a  gate  in  the  road  to  which  they  have  no  key,  or  a  deep 
place  which  they  cannot  fathom,  and  dare  not  attempt  to  leap. 
There  are  ugly  facts,  there  are  surprising  events  to  be  accounted 
for,  there  are  cross  lights  that  daze  the  vision,  and  cannot  be 
exactly  set  in  their  astronomical  centres.  So  the  enemies  of  Christ 
have  told  a  crooked  story,  or  a  lame  one,  or  a  short  one— and  I 
have  to  ask  you  to  fall  asleep  over  many  a  mile  of  the  road,  or  you 
never  can  pass  that  way.  There  are  imperfect  explanations  :  if  you 
will  forget  the  substantial  and  central  thing  to  be  explained  and 
vindicated,  then  you  may  be  content  with  certain  superficial 
references,  but  when  you  come  to  vital  questions,  heart  enquiries, 
when  you  need  an  answer  to  a  question  shooting  itself  out  of  the 
very  centre  and  sanctuary  of  the  soul,  you  will  not  get  a  satisfac- 
tory reply. 

And  many  of  those  men  who  undertake  to  misrepresent  the 
Christian  cause,  fall  into  this  very  matter  of  self- crimination  :  they 
are  content  to  say,"  We  were  asleep,  we  had  not  insight  enough, 
we  are  but  imperfectly  acquainted  with  that  subject,  we  have  not 
before  us  the  necessary  information  ;"  in  some  form  or  other  they 
will  use  the  explanation,  "  We  were  asleep."  Christianity  is 
never  asleep,  truth  is  never  asleep,  reality  never  sleeps,  never 
slumbers  ;  reality  is  always  the  same,  with  a  simple,  straight- 
forward, graphic,  yet  oftentimes  profound  and  mysterious  tale  to 
tell — but  the  mystery  is  only  as  the  sky  to  the  earth,  a  necessary 
part  of  the  complete  economy  of  things,  but  heightening  itself 
beyond  the  hands  and  eyes  of  impertinent  enquirers. 

In  the  case  of  the  second  programme,  we  see  the  best  and 
wisest  way  of  treating  the  first.  No  notice  was  taken  of  the  plan  of 
the  enemy,  no  caution  was  given  as  to  the  craftiness  of  the  men 
who  were  setting  up  a  contradictory  story,  That  is  the  wisdom  of 
Christianity,  not  to  be  anszvering  the  enemy  always,  but  to  be 
telling  its  own  tale,  speaking  its  own  gospel,  walking  its  own  way, 


MA  TTHE IV  XXVIII.  1 1-20. 


healing  the  hearts  wounded  and  cursed  by  sin.  The  Christian 
pulpit  will  become  what  it  ought  to  be  when  it  pays  less  attention 
to  the  men  who  hold  by  the  first  programme,  and  when  it  goes 
straight  forward  on  its  great  evangelistic  and  missionary  tour,  of 
telling  the  world  that  there  is  balm  in  Gilead,  and  that  there 
is  a  Physician  there.  Men  are  not  healed  by  argument,  men 
are  not  saved  by  happy  tricks  in  controversy.  I  have  no  mes- 
sage to  any  man  who  is  not  desiring  the  message  before  I  utter 
it.  The  gospel  is  an  answer — you  must  provide  the  question. 
The  gospel  does  not  come  down,  saying,  "  Let  us  start  an  argu- 
ment," the  gospel  is  God's  answer  to  man  s  necessity.  Therefore 
go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature — 
every  creature  will  not  hear  it,  every  creature  will  not  respond  to 
it,  but  you  will  find  out  in  every  house  and  town  and  land  and  em- 
pire where  those  are  who  are  waiting  for  the  consolation  of  Israel, 
and  who  are  asking  a  question  to  which  there  is  no  true  answer 
but  from  the  cross  of  Christ.  And  every  man  has  work  to  do  : 
Christianity  starts  men  upon  no  little  errands,  Christianity  has  no 
merely  short  journeys  for  its  propagandists  to  undertake.  Every 
journey  is  a  long  one,  though  it  may  seem  to  be  locally  short  ; 
there  is  no  stopping  place  on  the  line  of  Christian  evangelists  until 
the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  spread  itself  over  the  globe  as  the 
waters  overflow  in  infinite  billows  the  channels  of  the  deep. 

And  then  behold  the  inspiration  under  which  all  this  work  has 
to  be  conducted.  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days,  even  unto 
the  consummation  of  the  age."  He  does  not  send  us  out  alone ; 
he  divides  the  burden  ;  he  shares  the  peril  ;  he  inspires  our 
courage  ;  he  is  a  present  Captain,  always  in  the  thick  of  the  fight, 
and  always  so  near  that  a  ivhisper  may  reach  him,  or  a  glance  of 
weariness  and  doubt  bring  from  his  radiant  face  a  shining  that 
shall  be  as  the  dawning  of  a  new  day.  Do  we  realize  a  present 
Christ  ?  Have  we  that  acuteness  and  largeness  of  faith  which  can 
feel  the  Son  of  God  at  our  very  side?  Do  we  see  him  in  the 
breaking  of  the  family  bread,  do  we  hear  him  in  the  movements  of 
the  events  of  the  day  that  is  passing  over  us,  do  we  catch  glimpses 
of  him  in  many  a  strange  providence,  and  are  we  quite  sure,  by 
the  happy  realizations  of  spiritual  affection,  that  he  is  within  the 
reach,  yea,  within  the  beating  of  our  own  hearts  ?  If  not,  we  have 
lost  the  original  inspiration,  we  are  repeating  a  lesson,  not  deliver- 


CHRISTIAN  ELOQUENCE  IN  BENEFICENCE.      299 

ing  a  message  ;  we  are  uttering  a  statement  in  letters,   and  not  a 
cry  from  a  sanctified  and  impassioned  heart. 

This  is  the  programme  of  Christianity  to-day.  If  the  one  pro- 
gramme has  not  changed,  neither  has  the  other.  You  will  get 
into  dangerous  places  if  you  change  one  line  of  the  original  pro- 
gramme of  your  Saviour  and  Founder,  as  a  Christian  Church. 
Christianity  comes  to  fau  men  as  an  argument ;  it  may  come  to 
all  men  as  a  blessing.  The  light  does  not  come  as  a  puzzle  in 
solar  physics,  it  comes  in  cheering  brilliance  and  warmth  to  do 
manifold  good  in  nature  and  in  life.  Few  men  may  be  theologians, 
but  all  men  may  be  Christians.  Go  with  the  opposition,  and  you 
will  have  to  evade  and  arrange  and  manipulate  so  as  to  escape  the 
difficulties  of  history  and  the  pressure  of  immediate  facts,  but  go 
with  Christ,  and  you  will  teach  and  comfort  and  bless  all  nations. 
You  may  be  weak  in  argument,  but  you  may  be  mighty  in  prayer. 
The  clever  manager  of  words  may  outrun  you  in  the  race  of 
eloquence,  but  when  the  heart  is  sad  and  the  night  of  loneliness  is 
without  one  star* to  break  its  infinite  and  intolerable  monotony, 
then  your  comfort  will  be  sought  as  men  cry  for  water  when  they 
burn  with  thirst. 

Christianity  will  find  its  best  eloquence  in  its  beneficence.  To  do 
good  is  to  repel  every  enemy  and  to  answer  every  sneer.  I  want 
us  as  Christians  so  to  work,  that  men  will  be  able  to  say,  when 
they  are  tempted  to  abandon  the  church  and  leave  Christian  society, 
"  We  are  poor  men,  illiterate  men,  uneloquent  men  ;  we  cannot 
answer  arguments  ;  but  the  Christians  of  this  neighbourhood  have 
been  kinder  to  us  than  any  other  people.  We  know  not  what 
you  say  when  you  utter  long  words  and  refer  to  historical  diffi- 
culties, but  the  woman  who  sat  up  with  our  dying  child  was  a 
woman  who  could  pray.  We  do  not  understand  your  chronology 
and  archaeology  and  your  scientific  penetrations  and  oppositions  ; 
you  confuse  us  with  such  unfamiliar  words  ;  but  in  sorrow  it  is 
the  Christian  who  calls  at  this  house  first,  it  is  the  Christian  who 
stays  longest,  it  is  the  Christian  who  speaks  most  sweetly,  it  is  the 
Christian  that  puts  into  our  minds  the  most  elevating  and  soothing 
thoughts. ' '  So  long  as  Christianity  can  elicit  testimony  like  that, 
all  opposition  against  it  is  a  worthless  taunt,  a  mockery  that  has 
no  message  for  the  heart  a  lie  that  turns  black  in  the  face  whilst  it 
utters  its  base  message. 


XCVI. 
PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  thou  art  slow  to  anger,  but  we  are  swift  to  do  that 
which  is  evil.  Because  thy  compassions  fail  not,  therefore  do  we  rebel 
against  thee  with  a  high  hand  and  with  an  arm  outstretched.  Judgment 
is  thy  strange  work,  mercy  is  thy  delight,  and  the  heart  of  man  is  set  in 
him  to  do  evil,  for  he  knows  that  the  Lord  will  not  smite  until  the  last, 
and  that  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever.  This  we  have  learned  through 
Jesus  Christ  thy  Son,  our  one  and  only  Saviour  :  he  wept  over  us  ; 
though  we  had  stoned  the  prophets  and  killed  them  that  were  sent  unto 
us,  yet  he  wept  over  us  as  over  those  whom  he  would  gladly  have 
redeemed.  Thou  lovest  the  sons  of  men,  thine  heart  is  moved  towards 
them  in  great  love  and  in  continual  compassion  and  hopefulness.  There- 
fore is  thy  providence  a  revelation  of  thy  mercy,  and  therefore  is  every 
day  a  token  for  good  unto  our  souls,  if  we  could  but  read  upon  it  thy 
sweet  and  gracious  purpose.  Thou  hast  no  thought  of  evil  towards  us, 
thine  heart  looks  out  upon  us  wistfully,  with  the  yearning  and  expectation 
of  love  that  cannot  be  satisfied  until  the  last  prodigal  has  returned  and 
the  whole  household  is  complete. 

We  come  to  thee  now  with  songs  of  delight  far  above  all  words  to  utter 
— a  love  that  has  no  speech  because  of  thy  lovingkindness  and  thy  tender 
mercy.  Thou  hast  stooped  very  low  to  find  us,  thou  hast  gone  out  of 
thy  way  to  recover  those  who  have  strayed,  thou  hast  lighted  the  house 
and  swept  it  diligently  to  find  the  meanest  piece  that  was  lost.  We  were 
as  sheep  gone  astray,  now  we  are  returned  unto  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop 
of  our  souls,  and  safely  enfolded  upon  the  high  mountains  of  Israel,  we 
will  be  glad  in  the  Lord  and  praise  him  with  a  new  song.  Once  we  were 
blind,  now  we  see,  once  we  knew  not  what  was  above  the  blue  sky  which 
we  called  the  day,  now  we  see  beyond  it  into  the  upper  spaces  and  wider 
liberties  of  thy  creation,  and  behold  how  high  is  God's  sanctuary  and  how 
wide  the  temple  of  the  Lord. 

Bless  us,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Priest 
and  Saviour  of  the  world,  with  daily  revelation  of  truth,  and  daily  delight 
in  thy  wisdom.  Wean  us  from  all  forbidden  things,  overcome  the  fasci- 
nations of  time  and  sense  with  some  mightier  attraction  of  thine  own, 
destroy  within  us  him  who  rules  over  our  life,  set  up  thine  own  kingdom 
in  the  heart  and  be  our  one  Master.  We  would  be  slaves  of  thine,  we 
would  be  captives  of  the  Lord,  we  would  be  bound  hand  and  foot,  head 
and  heart,  by  the  chains  of  thy  love,  and  seek  no  other  liberty  than  the 
range  of  thy  will  and  purpose.     For  this  desire  we  bless  thee  :  it  is  the 


PR  A  YER.  301 

marvel  of  our  misspent  life  :  we  knew  not  that  thou  wouldst  bring  us 
even  so  far  as  to  lay  down  our  will  at  thy  feet.  This  is  the  Lord's  doing, 
and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 

Continue  thy  ministry  within  the  soul,  break  down  every  barrier,  drive 
away  every  cloud,  and  cleanse  the  whole  sanctuary  of  the  life  and  make 
it  a  fit  dwelling-place  for  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Give 
us  the  eye  which  sees  the  inner  meaning  of  things,  give  us  the  hearing 
ear  and  the  heart  which  listens  for  the  lowest  tones  of  thy  music  and  all 
the  subtle  suggestions  of  thy  revelation  in  the  Book,  in  life,  in  history, 
and  in  providence.  Deliver  us  from  supposing  that  we  are  bounded  only 
by  things  seen  and  temporal,  and  give  us  such  a  consciousness  of  other 
presences  and  other  distances  as  shall  ennoble  our  whole  thought  and  lift 
up  our  life  to  the  heavenly  level. 

We  have  done  the  things  we  ought  not  to  have  done,  and  left  undone 
the  things  that  we  ought  to  have  done,  and  our  lamentation  is  a  sorrow 
that  should  have  no  end.  But  thou  dost  interrupt  our  reproaches  and 
confessions  with  assurances  of  love  and  offers  of  pardon  :  ere  we  have 
completed  the  tale  of  our  shame,  thou  hast  called  for  a  robe  to  clothe  us, 
for  a  ring  for  our  finger,  and  thou  hast  lighted  the  house  with  a  new  glory 
and  filled  it  with  ineffable  gladness.  This  is  thy  wondrous  way,  this 
the  very  mystery  and  glory  of  thy  love  ;  because  thy  compassions  fail 
not,  therefore  are  we  not  consumed,  therefore  have  we  a  great  hope. 

Thou  knowest  what  hearts  are  burdened,  what  lives  are  strained  by 
difficulty  and  bewildered  by  perplexity  ;  thou  knowest  where  the  shadow 
of  death  has  broadly  fallen,  and  where  the  grave  has  been  dug  in  the  house- 
hold. Thou  knowest  those  who  are  feeling  inward  pain  and  weakness 
and  distress  hitherto  concealed,  thou  knowest  all  the  wants  of  our  life,  its 
pain  and  its  poverty  are  continual  prayers  unto  the  heavens.  We  humbly 
desire  therefore  that  thou  wouldst,  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ,  come  to  us  with  answers  larger  than  our  prayers,  and  with  revela- 
tions that  shall  astound  our  vision  by  their  beauty  and  magnificence. 

Let  our  houses  be  precious  to  thee,  may  they  be  homes  indeed,  wherein 
dwells  the  spirit  of  rest,  and  broods  the  angel  of  peace.  Make  our  fire 
in  the  winter  time,  and  fill  our  windows  with  light  when  the  summer 
comes  round,  and  out  of  every  flower  may  we  bring  some  new  lesson  of 
thy  care.  Let  the  little  ones  all  live  and  grow  strong  and  wise,  and 
become  sources  of  gladness  in  the  house.  Let  the  old  grandfather  and 
grandmother,  those  who  represent  the  older  generation,  be  comforted 
with  very  rich  solaces,  and  be  made  quite  young  again — not  in  their  flesh, 
but  in  their  Christian  inspiration  and  hope.  Dry  our  tears  when  we  dare 
not  touch  them,  soothe  the  grief  too  sensitive  to  be  approached  by  the 
kindest  human  love,  and  into  the  ear  that  is  dying,  pour  the  last  earthly 
word  of  comfort,  and  speak  of  the  resurrection  and  the  life. 

As  for  our  enemies,  do  thou  forgive  them  with  great  pardons  ;  when 
the  abjects  gather  themselves  against  us  and  we  know  it  not,  the  Lord 
dispel  their  illusions,  and  preserve  their  lives.     Amen. 


302  MATTHEW  I.-XXVIII. 


REVIEW   OP   THE   WHOLE. 

WE  have  come  to  the  end  of  this  gospel  of  Matthew,  and  if 
you  ask  me  what  I  think  of  the  gospel  now  that  I  have 
closed  it,  I  will  tell  you.  I  am  like  a  man  who  has  been  in  a 
strange  land,  whose  speech  and  usages  he  cannot  wholly  compre- 
hend, and  about  which  there  is  a  touch  of  infinite  charm.  All  the 
people  wore  unfamiliar  garments,  no  man  spoke  my  native 
tongue,  the  whole  population  moved  in  urgent  haste,  and  often 
whispered  with  keenest  energy.  Amongst  them  stood  a  Man  like 
no  other  man  I  ever  saw,  with  a  face  that  burned,  an  eye  that 
changed  from  pity  to  judgment  and  from  judgment  to  pity  with 
startling  rapidity,  a  voice  in  which  thunders  were  chained  and  all 
the  mysteries  of  music  hidden.  A  voice  marvellous  ;  now  so  like 
other  voices  that  it  moved  no  sense  of  wonder,  and  now  so  unique 
that  all  other  voices  sounded  shallow  and  commonplace  as  com- 
pared with  its  compass  and  solemnity.  A  strange  Man — now 
shrunk  from  like  a  mountain  on  fire,  now  sought  as  a  garden  of 
delight  in  which  palms  grew  for  wounded  hearts,  and  flowers 
bloomed  that  were  fit  for  festivals  of  unutterable  joy.  Loved  by 
all  women,  kissed  by  all  children,  longed  for  by  all  sufferers, 
besought,  entreated  with  tears,  honoured,  worshipped,  hated  with 
all  the  malignity  of  hell. 

His  name  was  Jesus.  He  was  a  Man  of  strange  ways  :  so  fond 
of  loneliness  that  he  stole  away  secretly  to  the  mountain  long  after 
the  sunshine  had  fled  from  its  slopes  and  crags,  and  when  the  cold 
stars  looked  glitteringly  upon  the  cold  dew  of  the  still  night. 
There  he  was,  there  within  the  crags  as  within  a  holy  church,  there 
on  his  knees,  with  his  face  upturned  to  the  starry  canopy,  and  his 
lips  moving  in  the  eloquent  agony  of  speechless  prayer.  No 
human  creature  was  at  hand  ;  angels  thronged  the  steps,  and  the 
low  winds  brought  fragrance  from  sweetest  paradises,  and  the 
planets  attested  the  solidity  and  beneficent  rigour  of  infinite  law — 
but  no  man  was  there,  no  child,  no  woman,  not  Mary  who  bore 
him  :  he  stood  off  like  a  Priest,  he  stood  above,  like  a  Sun  that 
cannot  be  touched. 

Then  in  the  morning  when  I  saw  him  on  common  ground 
again,  how  weird  he  looked,  how  solemn,  how  unlike  all  other 


THE  NAME   OF  JESUS.  303 

men,  so  old,  yet  so  young,  so  commonly  clothed,  yet  so  dignified, 
speaking  the  language  of  all  with  an  accent  which  none  could 
imitate,  as  ready  for  good  work  as  he  had  been  ready  for  holy 
prayer.  Men  never  knew  what  to  call  him,  he  was  almost  the 
anonymous  one  ;  he  was  called  "  JESUS  "  by  the  angel,  but  to 
others  he  was  all  but  Nameless.  I  never  heard  him  called  by  his 
name  to  his  face  ;  every  one  said  thou,  or  he,  or  Rabbi,  but  no  lips 
could  be  so  far  irreverent  as  to  call  him  familiarly  by  his  name, 
except  when  away  from  him,  and  then  the  name  was  spoken  with 
tender  gratefulness — "  A  Man  that  was  called  Jesus  said  unto 
me," — "  But  Jesus  said." 

His  shape  was  as  a  cloud  that  changes  every  moment  into  some 
new  suggestion  of  magnificence  or  beauty.  His  movement  was 
through  an  uncalculated  orbit,  his  outlook  rested  upon  points 
which  no  astronomy  had  mapped.  Like  a  bird  he  sometimes 
came  so  near  as  to  be  almost  familiar,  then  like  a  bird  with  out- 
spread wings  that  carried  him  to  the  entrances  of  other  worlds. 
O  those  wings,  wings  of  the  soul,  wings  of  almightiness,  wings 
that  told  all  the  world  that  he  was  here  but  for  a  time,  and  that 
he  had  brought  with  him  the  power  to  return — those  wings  that 
give  the  life  that  carries  with  them  so  much  liberty,  the  soul- wings 
that  bear  him  away  above  the  range  and  above  the  uproar  of  the 
thunder,  which  makes  the  timid  earth  afraid.  O  that  I  had  wings 
like  a  dove,  then  would  I  flee  away  and  be  at  rest !  The  sun  of 
righteousness  is  risen  with  healing  in  his  wings. 

If  you  ask  me  what  further  I  think  of  the  gospel  now  that  it  is 
closed,  I  will  tell  you.  I  shut  my  eyes  and  see  it  all,  I  betake 
me  to  some  quiet  dream-spot  where  the  flocks  lie  down  at  noon, 
and  in  a  waking  dream  I  hear  and  see  everything  once  more. 
What  voices  of  the  night  are  these  like  silver  bells  that  sweetly 
sound  ?  Is  it  the  plash  of  some  gentle  stream  flowing  through 
gardens  that  slope  towards  the  sun  ?  Is  it  converse  between  spirits 
that  speak  to  one  another  some  tender  secret  of  the  heart  ?  It  is 
in  very  deed  a  song  :  it  rises  and  falls  with  the  rhythm  of  some 
other  and  infinite  movement  to  which  the  throbbing  stars  beat 
time,  and  which  all  Heaven  accepts  as  the  law  of  its  own  security. 
What  song  is  that  ?  It  is  a  birth-song  :  it  is  no  prophecy  of  mere 
hope,  it  is  the  joy-song  of  an  immediate  blessing — "  A  Child  is 


3o4  MATTHEW  I-XXVIII. 

born,  a  Son  is  given  :  the  second  Adam  has  appeared  to  retrieve 
the  fortunes  of  the  first,  and  to  work  out  some  unknown  mystery 
of  grace.  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest !"  That  song  leaves  us 
until  it  becomes  but  a  whisper  in  the  air,  further,  further  it  goes 
— -"On  earth  peace,  and  good  will  toward  men."  That  song 
comes  downward,  it  broadens  and  it  rolls  and  fills  the  whole  earth 
with  musical  thunder.  That  was  the  song  I  heard.  The  first 
Adam  came  in  silence,  the  second  with  songs  of  angels  ;  the  first 
a  dying  body,  the  second  a  quickening  spirit.  He  came  with 
music,  he  came  to  make  music,  he  loves  music,  he  will  reign  till 
all  nations  repeat  his  song  and  call  him  blessed. 

Such  is  the  impression  with  which  I  came  out  of  that  gospel 
scene.  Quickly  the  scene  changes  and  enlarges,  and  many  a  won- 
der crowds  upon  my  eyes.  The  Man  who  was  born  amid  the  songs 
of  angels  goes  out  to  make  the  whole  world  glad.  He  himself 
will  be  the  song.  That  is  the  purpose  of  our  being,  not  to  listen 
to  music  only,  but  to  make  it  and  to  be  it.  He  is  as  a  Father 
standing  at  the  wide-open  door,  wistfully  longing  for  the  prodigal's 
return.  Then  swiftly  he  is  a  King  that  says  he  will  make  a  mar- 
riage feast  for  his  Son,  and  fill  the  whole  house  with  radiant 
guests,  and  make  it  glow  with  sacred  fire.  Then  suddenly,  he  is 
as  a  mother  that  will  gather  all  her  children  within  her  arms  and 
press  them  to  a  heart  that  never  felt  towards  them  other  than  with 
unutterable  love.  She  will  give  them  rest,  wine,  milk,  and  honey. 
Then  he  is  as  a  tender  nurse  who  will  take  into  the  custody  of  his 
love  all  little  children  and  helpless  lives. 

He  does  not  care  for  mere  literal  consistency  in  the  figures  under 
which  he  represents  himself.  He  is  a  broken-hearted  Father, 
bitterly  disappointed  because  his  last  born  is  not  at  home,  a  great 
King  who  takes  out  of  his  wardrobe  all  the  wedding  dresses 
and  sends  out  invitations  to  the  whole  universe.  Mother,  and 
Shepherd,  and  Nurse,  and  Friend,  and  Teacher, — he  will  con- 
descend to  assume  any  figure  and  condition  that  will  touch  the 
pathos  of  the  occasion  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  Tell  him  that 
the  brother  is  dead,  and  he  will  cry  over  the  vacancy  in  the  family 
circle, — but  he  will  cry  in  fuller  and  bitterer  floods  over  the  city 
which  has  stoned  the  prophets  and  killed  them  who  were  sent  to  it. 

So  weak,  yet  so  strong — amid  the  weakness  of  tears  there  is  the 
energy  of  almighty  power.     The  Man  touches  the  blind  eyes  and 


CHRIST'S  ROYAL  KINGDOM.  305 

they  are  blind  no  more.  The  deaf  ear  he  unstops,  and  blesses  it 
first  of  all  with  the  music  of  his  own  voice,  after  which  all  other 
music  must  be  commonplace.  He  turns  the  desert  into  a  ban- 
queting hall,  walks  upon  the  sea,  summons  the  dead  from  the 
winding  sheet,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  health  all  disease  flies 
away,  ashamed  of  its  own  corruption.  He  went  about  doing 
good.  He  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them.  In 
a  moment  of  supreme  passion  of  love,  he  confounded  all  sense 
and  reason  and  literal  understanding  by  saying  that  he  would  give 
his  flesh  and  his  blood  for  the  life  of  the  world.  We  must  be  a 
long  time  with  him  before  we  can  enter  into  the  mystery  of  that 
gift. 

Again  the  scene  changes  before  the  vision  of  my  memory,  and 
I  see  a  man  who  boldly  announces  that  he  has  come  to  set  up 
what  he  calls  the  kingdom  of  heaven  upon  the  earth.  Not  to  raise 
a  house,  but  to  establish  a  throne  ;  not  to  be  one  of  many,  but  to 
be  the  all- including  One  ;  not  to  consult  other  kings,  but  to  rule 
them  ;  not  to  offer  homage,  but  to  claim  it  from  all  masteries  and 
dominions,  from  all  chiefs  and  potentates.  This  Man's  subject 
of  speech  is  a  kingdom,  this  Man's  kingdom  is  heaven,  this  Man's 
heaven  is  not  a  distant  city  but  a  presence  in  the  soul.  It  was  the 
royal  element  in  this  Man's  teaching  that  troubled  the  great  ones 
of  his  time  ;  it  was  the  royal  element  that  troubled  Herod  and  all 
Jerusalem  with  him — he  did  not  send  to  ask  where  the  Shepherd 
was  born,  but  where  was  born  him  that  is  King  of  the  Jews.  It 
was  the  royal  element  that  threw  Pilate's  mind  into  perplexity  and 
involved  the  throne  of  Caesar  in  mysterious  and  threatening  clouds. 
Christ  would  be  royal,  there  was  royalty  in  his  voice  as  he  reviewed 
the  morals  of  the  ancient  world  and  replaced  them  by  principles 
of  his  own  ;  there  was  royalty  in  his  parables  as  he  spread  in  them 
a  feast  for  the  hunger  of  all  nations  ;  there  was  royalty  in  his  spirit 
as  he  declined  all  flattery,  resented  all  patronage,  called  all  men 
to  himself  as  the  centre  of  completeness  and  rest. 

The  royal  element  in  his  thought  and  action  contradicted  all 
that  was  mean  and  lowly  in  his  outward  circumstances,  and  those 
circumstances  in  their  turn  seemed  to  mock  with  bitter  irony  the 
claim  of  royalty  which  he  continually  set  up.  Royal,  yet  he  had 
not  where  to  lay  his  head  ;  royal,  yet  he  had  not  a  stater  for  the  tax- 


306  MATTHEW  J-XXVIJI. 

gatherer  when  he  called  ;  royal,  but  not  recognized  as  one  of  the 
brotherhood  of  kings  or  invited  to  dine  with  that  charmed  circle. 
How  then  was  he  royal  ?  In  the  magnificence  of  his  thought,  the 
sublimity  of  his  purpose,  the  infiniteness  of  his  love,  and  the  splen- 
dour of  his  priesthood.  Royal,  and  therefore  he  could  stoop  ; 
royal,  and  therefore  he  could  wash  the  disciples'  feet ;  royal,  and 
therefore  he  could  accept  the  cross  and  triumph  over  its  shame 
and  pain.  This  is  kinghood,  this  is  royalty— not  a  decoration 
which  perishes,  but  a  splendour  self-created  and  self-sustaining, 
evermore. 

We  have  lost  the  royal  element  in  our  preaching  ;  we  are  now 
making  apologies,  we  are  now  asking  permissions,  we  are  now 
requesting  to  be  allowed  that  Christ  should  be  heard  along  with 
teachers  venerable  by  their  antiquity  and  dignified  by  the  general 
pureness  of  their  tone.  The  preacher  now  has  no  kingdom  to  set 
up,  but  some  little  apology  to  offer.  Now  the  cry  is  not  "  Lift 
up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  yet  lift  up,  ye  everlasting  doors, 
and  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in," — it  is  some  weaker  cry, 
some  paltry  tone  of  excuse,  or  some  dainty  endeavour  to  escape 
the  tragedy  of  the  occasion.  Christianity  is  nothing  if  not  a  king- 
dom. This  doctrine  does  but  palter  with  the  shattered  fortunes 
of  humanity,  if  it  does  not  come  with  royal  credentials  and  offer 
royal  bounties  to  the  soul.  Again  and  again,  day  by  day,  do  I, 
in  the  hearing  of  my  memory,  listen  to  this  weird,  mysterious 
Teacher,  talking  about  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Then  comes  the  strangest  scene  of  all  the  scenes  so  strange  in 
this  exciting  gospel.  No  such  spectacle  ever  appalled  the  human 
imagination  ;  the  mere  historian  cannot  touch  it  with  his  tool  of 
cold  iron,  language  dare  not  take  within  its  prison  bars  a  story  so 
tragical  as  if  it  could  hold  it  up.  Every  word  has  an  atmosphere 
of  its  own,  between  the  lines  deep  rivers  roll  with  apocalyptic 
images  reflected  from  their  gleaming  waters.  The  very  punctua- 
tion hides  hints  of  mysteries  yet  to  be  explored,  or  marks  our 
progress  towards  glories  yet  to  be  revealed.  We  are  lost  in  worlds 
whose  paths  we  have  not  known.  Marvellous  vision,  this.  A 
prisoner,  held  in  a  cruel  grip  ;  a  silent  Man  in  the  presence  of 
imperial  power,  a  Man  deserted  by  the  few  followers  whose  uncer- 
tain worship  seldom  passed  beyond  the  point  of  selfish  or  troubled 


A   GRAND  MAN.  307 


wonder.  A  great  grim  cross,  stoutly  built,  and  built  with  savage 
delight,  and  thrust  into  the  stony  ground  with  the  joy  of  cruel 
triumph.  An  unresisting  victim,  with  nails  driven  through  his 
hands  and  feet,  with  the  crown  of  thorns  crushed  into  his  temples, 
with  the  spear  thrust  into  his  side.  I  see  darkness  at  midday,  a 
field  ol  solid  rocks  throbbing  under  my  feet ;  above  are  clouds 
through  which  innumerable  eyes  may  be  peering,  and  soughing 
around  the  whole  circle  of  visible  things  are  winds  in  which 
innumerable  travellers  seem  to  be  hastening  to  the  cross.  Then  a 
cry  of  orphanage,  an  uprising  of  the  sheeted  dead,  the  cry,  "  It  is 
finished,"  and  I  see  and  hear  no  more — for  the  praying  fails 
beneath  the  accumulated  fear.  Be  quiet  for  a  little  while  :  in 
such  a  presence  speech  would  be  profane  :  but  a  little  while  be 
quiet — a  day  or  two  be  quiet. 

Then  the  light  comes  back,  the  blue  sky  sheds  its  blessing  on 
the  terror-stricken  earth,  and  away  yonder  on  a  mountain  stands 
the  risen  Man,  possessed  of  all  power,  sending  out  his  gospel  to 
the  whole  world,  and  having  spoken  of  his  great  last  word  of  love 
he  rises,  he  enters  into  a  descending  cloud  sent  down  to  receive 
him,  as  in  a  chariot,  and  into  the  skies  where  the  angels  sang  the 
birth-song  rises  the  Conqueror  who  has  made  that  lofty  song  the 
possible  music  of  all  human  life.  Hark  !  A  grand  Man.  Even 
so,  Amen. 

Son  of  man,  what  seest  thou  ?  I  see  a  handful  of  corn  upon 
the  top  of  the  mountains  scattered  by  a  sower  who  went  forth  to 
sow.  I  see  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear  :  field  after  field  of  golden  grain,  all  the  hillsides  rich  with 
corn,  all  the  valleys  rejoicing  in  the  abundance  of  its  sunny 
harvest.  I  see  reapers  going  forth  to  reap,  I  see  the  shocks  of 
corn  fully  ripe,  I  hear  the  angels'  song — "  Harvest  home." 

Son  of  man,  what  seest  thou  ?  I  see  a  good  Shepherd  going 
forth  to  seek  the  sheep  that  was  gone  astray.  I  watch  him  thread- 
ing his  way  through  stony  places  and  looking  wistfully  for  some 
footprint  to  guide  him.  I  see  him  climbing  hills,  crossing 
streams,  and  cleaving  through  rank  brushwood.  I  see  his  eye 
brighten  and  his  face  flush  as  he  lays  the  lost  one  on  his  shoulder 
and  returns  to  the  fold  with  thankful,  shepherdly  joy. 


3o8  MATTHEW  I-XXVIII. 

Son  of  man,  what  seest  thou  ?  I  see  a  Father,  looking  tenderly 
and  wearily  into  far-off  space,  if  haply  he  may  catch  sight  of  a 
figure  well  known  and  long  wished  for.  On  his  face  are  the  stains 
of  many  tears,  in  his  eyes  is  the  glitter  of  an  expectancy  daily  dis- 
appointed. Old  age  has  come  upon  him  with  the  prematureness 
of  sorrow  overmuch.  He  can  find  no  home  in  the  house  though 
the  house  is  ample  and  grand.  Now  he  suddenly  starts,  now  his 
breast  heaves  with  emotion,  he  runs,  he  falls  on  his  son's  neck 
and  kisses  him,  and  with  many  a  sob  he  says,  "  This  my  son 
was  dead  and  is  alive  again,  was  lost  and  is  found." 

Son  of  man,  what  seest  thou  ?  I  see  the  shining  of  a  great 
light,  the  outbursting  upon  all  nations  of  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 
Gentiles  are  coming  to  his  light  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  his 
rising.  The  abundance  of  the  sea  is  being  converted,  and  the 
forces  of  the  Gentiles  are  hastening  to  the  cross.  Midian  and 
Ephah,  Sheba  and  Tarshish,  Kedar  and  Nebaioth  are  moved  by 
new  sensations.  City  is  saying  to  city,  "  Let  us  go  up  speedily  to 
seek  the  Lord  of  Hosts."  Men  are  beating  their  swords  into 
ploughshares  and  their  spears  into  pruning-hooks,  and  idols  are 
being  cast  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats.  I  hear  a  shout ;  it  out- 
swells  the  mean  eloquence  of  the  thunder,  and  rises  in  towering 
pride  of  strength,  "  Hallelujah  !  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  for  ever 
and  ever.  Hallelujah,  Amen.  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain 
to  receive  power  and  riches  and  wisdom  and  strength  and  honour 
and  glory  and  blessing,  for  ever  and  ever,  Amen.  Blessing  and 
honour  and  glory  and  power  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  upon  the 
throne  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.  Hallelujah, 
Amen." 

Despised  and  rejected  of  men,  he  is  now  the  Light  of  the  uni- 
verse and  the  joy  of  the  whole  creation.  He  sees  of  the  travail  of 
his  soul  and  is  satisfied,  for  his  boundless  Universe  is  a  boundless 
Heaven.     Sweet,  sweet  Gospel  ! 


The  following  discourses  are  supplementary,  yet  illustrative  of  several  points 
in  the  main  line  of  inquiry. 


TWO  MOUNTAIN  SCENES. 
Matt.  iv.  8,  9. 

"  The  devil  taketh  him  up  into  an  exceeding  high  mountain  ;  and 
showeth  him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of^iem  ;  and 
saith  unto  him,  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall  down 
and  worship  me." 

TO  this  proposition  Jesus  Christ  returned  an  answer  which 
caused  the  devil  to  leave  him.  He  received  a  great  offer 
and  he  declined  it  with  holy  sternness.  It  was  truly  a  great  offer 
— nothing  less  than  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  them  ;"  and  the  return  to  be  made  was  sentimental  rather  than 
practical,  or  at  least  would  have  been  so  regarded  by  any  other 
man  than  Jesus  Christ.  The  offer  was  Empire,  and  the  price  was 
Worship.  Jesus  Christ  said  No,  and  came  down  from  the  moun- 
tain as  poor  as  he  was  when  he  was  taken  up.  With  what  ease 
he  could  have  had  ' '  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of 
them,"  and  what  good  he  could  have  done  if  all  things  had  been 
under  his  control  !  Yet  he  said  No ;  and  in  after  days  he  who 
might  have  been  King  of  the  world  said,  "  The  foxes  have  holes, 
and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  his  head."  So  much,  you  say,  for  throwing  away 
the  great  opportunities  of  life  !     Read  again — 

"  Then  the  eleven  disciples  went  away  into  Galilee,  into  a 
mountain  where  Jesus  had  appionted  them  ;  .  .  .  and  Jesus  came 
and  spake  unto  them,  saying,  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth"  (Matt,  xviii.  16,  18). 

Put  these  two  mountain  scenes  together,  and  consider  all  that 
has  happened  between  the  one  occasion  and  the  other.  If  you 
thus  lay  hold  of  the  case  in  all  its  bearings,  some  such  thought  as 
this  will  run  through  your  mind — You  can  take  the  world  on  the 
devil's  terms,  so  simple,  so  easy  ;  or  you  can  say  Aro  to  the  devil, 
and  come  down  to  poverty,  to  hard  work,  to  sorrow,  to  sacrifice, 


310  MATTHEW  IV.  8.  9. 

and  through  that  rugged  course  you  can  find  your  way  back  to 
the  mountain  clothed  with  larger  power,  even  with  much  of 
heavenly  and  earthly  dominion  put  into  your  hands. 

And  it  comes  very  much  to  this  in  life.  To  every  man  the 
devil  is  saying,  Accept  the  world  on  my  terms  ;  fall  down  and 
worship  me,  and  I  will  give  you  riches,  fame,  power,  or  whatever 
you  think  will  make  your  life  happy.  Such  a  temptation  comes 
in  some  form  and  in  some  degree  to  every  heart,  does  it  not  ? 
Now  in  direct  opposition  to  this,  Jesus  Christ  says — Take  no 
thought  for  your  life  ;  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  prizes  and  honours,  so  far  as  they  are 
good,  will  be  added  to  you  :  the  devil  took  me  up  into  an  exceed- 
ing high  mountain,  and  offered  me  the  kingdoms  of  the  world 
and  the  glory  of  them  if  I  would  fall  down  and  worship  him  ;  I 
said  No  to  his  offer,  and  I  came  down  from  the  hill  to  live  a  life 
of  sacrifice,  patiently  and  lovingly  to  do  the  work  of  him  that  sent 
me  ;  and  in  the  long  run  I  ascended  another  mountain,  from 
which  I  could  see  more  kingdoms  and  greater  than  before,  and 
instead  of  the  rulership  of  one  world,  all  power  in  heaven  and  in 
earth  was  given  unto  me  :  he  that  would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it, 
he  that  will  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it ;  that  which  thou 
sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die  ! 

Considering  the  peculiarities  of  the  human  mind,  so  far  as  we 
know  them,  the  appeal  of  the  devil  has  one  supreme  advantage 
over  the  appeal  of  Christ — it  is  not  only  addressed  to  the  senses, 
but  it  promises  instant  gratification  :  no  time  need  be  lost  ;  there 
is  the  prize,  and  here  is  the  direct  road  to  its  attainment ! 
Whereas  in  the  appeal  of  Christ  we  come  upon  all  the  difficulties 
of  delay  and  suffering,  to  which  is  added  a  scarcely  confessed 
suspicion  of  possible  miscarriage  and  disappointment.  The  devil 
promises  you  for  to-day  ;  and  for  to-day  Christ  seems  to  promise 
nothing  but  tears  and  thorns  and  crucifixion.  "  Wide  is  the  gate 
and  broad  is  the  road  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there 
be  that  find  it."  See  how  true  it  is  in  all  life  that  when  a  prize  is 
within  view  we  are  impatient  of  delay.  Thus,  if  you  stifle  the 
expression  of  your  convictions,  you  may  have  a  certain  honour 
almost  instantly  ;  if  you  utter  and  defend  your  convictions,  you 
may  have  to  wait  seven  years  for  that  same  honour  !  If  you  lull 
your  conscience  into  slumber,  you  make  your  fortune  in  a  twelve- 


THE  MORALIST'S  EXPLANATIONS.  311 

month  :  if  you  obey  your  conscience,  you  may  never  make  a 
fortune  at  all  !  Truckle,  and  be  rich  ;  resist,  and  be  poor  :  go 
with  the  world,  and  be  nattered  ;  go  against  it,  and  be  scorned. 
Who  can  hesitate  between  contrasts  so  broad  ! 

If  we  call  in  the  moralist  to  help  us  in  this  difficulty,  he  will 
probably  direct  our  attention  to  facts  as  the  best  elucidation  of 
principles,  and  may  challenge  us  to  consult  the  unquestionable 
and  solemn  testimony  of  human  experience  as  a  final  authority 
within  the  region  of  reason.  He  will  be  likely  to  tell  us  in  the 
first  place  that  all  these  promises  of  short  cuts  to  supreme  position 
and  influence  are  lies.  He  will  acknowledge,  indeed,  that  there 
are  short  roads  to  ownership,  notoriety,  and  self-importance  ;  but 
these  he  will  carefully  distinguish  from  the  supremacy  that  is  solid 
and  enduring  and  beneficent.  He  will,  too,  damp  the  ardour  of 
the  young  by  assuring  them  that  realities  are  often  the  exact 
opposite  of  appearances,  and  may  startle  them  still  further  by  the 
assurance,  which  he  will  be  able  to  justify  by  many  examples, 
that  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be  the  slave  of  the  very  things 
which  he  seems  to  own  and  rule.  Look  at  the  price  required  for 
the  supremacy  offered  to  Christ — "  If  thou  wilt  fall  down  and 
worship  me  !"  But  consider  what  it  is  to  worship  at  the  wrong 
altar  !  It  is  to  debase  the  affections,  to  bring  the  best  energies  of 
the  soul  under  malign  influence,  and  to  forfeit  the  power  to  enjoy 
the  very  things  which  it  is  supposed  to  purchase.  Worship 
expresses,  though  it  may  be  feebly,  the  worshipper's  supreme 
ideal  of  life  ;  if,  therefore,  it  be  offered  to  an  evil  spirit,  the  whole 
substance  and  course  of  life  will  be  deeply  affected  by  the  error. 
What  if  the  very  act  of  false  worship  disqualify  the  soul  for  relish- 
ing any  supposed  or  undoubted  joy  ?  Offer  a  man  long  draughts 
of  the  choicest  wines  if  he  will  first  drench  his  mouth  with  a  strong 
solution  of  alum,  and  what  are  the  choicest  wines  to  him  then  ? 
They  cannot  penetrate  to  the  palate,  they  are  absolutely  without 
taste,  and  they  mock  the  appetite  they  were  meant  to  gratify.  So, 
if  a  man  put  his  moral  nature  under  false  conditions,  and  create 
anarchy  between  himself  and  the  principle  of  eternal  righteousness, 
no  matter  what  fortune  or  honor  may  accrue  to  him,  his  power  of 
serene  enjoyment  is  gone,  and  he  becomes  burdened  and  plagued 
by  his  very  successes.  This  will  be  the  first  point  insisted  upon 
by  the  moralist ;  in  the  plainest  words  he  will  say — ! '  The  promise 


312  MATTHEW  IV.  8,  9. 

is  very  great,  but  it  is  a  lie  to  begin  with,  and  the  man  who  sells 
his  soul  to  get  it  will  soon  find  that  he  is  neither  more  nor  less 
than  a  dupe  of  the  devil. 

But  what  of  the  facts  which  seem  to  contradict  this  theory  of  the 
moralist?  "  I  have  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power,  and  spread- 
ing himself  like  a  green  bay  tree  :  their  eyes  stand  out  with  fatness  ; 
they  have  more  than  heart  can  wish  ;  they  are  not  in  trouble  as 
other  men."  Do  they  not  seem  to  have  gotten  the  kingdoms  of 
the  world  and  the  glory  of  them  ?  In  answering  this  inquiry  the 
moralist  will  insist  that  such  facts  exactly  illustrate  what  he  has 
just  said — viz.,  that  some  men  are  the  slaves  of  the  very  things 
which  they  seem  to  own  and  rule.  He  will  contend  that  technical 
possession  is  not  full  ownership,  and  he  will  make  his  appeal  to 
final  and  decisive  results  rather  than  to  temporary  appearances  and 
relations.  For  example,  he  will  acknowledge  that  the  wicked 
have  been  in  great  power  ;  but  he  will  show  that  they  have 
"  passed  away,"  and  that  they  have  not  been  found  even  by  those 
who  most  diligently  sought  for  them  ;  he  will  acknowledge  that 
the  wicked  have  sometimes  had  more  than  heart  can  wish,  but  he 
will  prove  that  they  have  always  been  set  in  "  slippery  places," 
and  that  their  "  end  is  destruction."  He  will  not  confine  himself 
within  narrow  limits  in  giving  his  judgment,  but  will  include 
within  his  survey  spaces  and  times  needful  for  securing  a  just  per- 
spective. It  is  quite  true  that  "  if  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope, 
we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable  ;"  but  if  we  bring  considerations 
of  eternity  to  bear  upon  the  discipline  of  time,  even  now  we  may 
have  joy,  and  may  even  "  glory  in  tribulation  also." 

Now  look  at  the  other  side  of  the  case.  Jesus  Christ  resists  the 
temptation  to  give  his  soul  for  gain,  and  he  goes  down  the  hill 
poor,  lonely,  and  apparently  helpless.  He  brings  back  nothing 
but  his  unimpaired  integrity  ;  he  is  whole  of  heart, — and  that  is 
all  you  can  say  about  him,  unless  you  add,  what  is  really  the  same 
thing  in  other  words,  that  his  faith  in  God  and  his  idea  of  worship 
are  pure  and  wise.  His  course  seems  for  a  time  troubled  with 
the  frown  and  judgment  of  God,  for  few  friends  come  to  his  side, 
there  is  no  joy  in  his  lot,  his  work  is  hard,  and  the  return  of  his 
toil  is  poor.  He  calls  himself  a  King,  and  men  laugh  at  him  ; 
he  says  he  is  the  Son  of  God,   and  men  take  up  stones  to  stone 


WORSHIP  ABOVE  EMPIRE.  313 

him.  Is  it  not,  then,  quite  plain  that  he  lost  his  chance  when  he 
said  No  on  the  hill,  and  that  he  must  take  the  consequences  of  his 
obstinacy  ?  A  man  who  would  so  argue  would  seem  to  have  a 
good  deal  of  souTnd  sense  on  his  side  ;  at  any  rate,  he  might  refer 
to  so-called  facts  with  very  emphatic  confidence.  He  might  al- 
most feel  called  upon  to  treat  with  positive  mockery  the  words  of 
Christ,  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness, 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you," — for  more  obvious 
irony  never  provoked  the  laughter  of  mankind.  And  still  the 
shadows  thicken  upon  the  gloomy  scene  ;  poverty  is  made  poorer 
by  loss  upon  loss  ;  and  further  on  his  oldest  friends  drop  off,  and 
the  disciple  he  loves  the  most  instinctively  assumes  an  attitude  of 
departure.  Plainly  enough,  this  Man  who  set  Worship  above 
Empire  sacrificed  his  fortune  to  his  sentiments,  and  lost  a  crown 
to  save  an  idea.  If  there  be  anything  more  on  the  dark  and 
downward  way  of  his  ill-luck,  it  cannot  be  other  than  a  Cross — a 
Cross  with  aggravations  too  ;  and  in  its  agony  he  will  learn  that 
violent  sentiments  have  violent  ends.  So  it  would  seem  !  We 
are  told  that  the  earth  is  round  ;  but  there  are  great  crags  and  pits 
on  its  rugged  surface  for  all  that.  We  are  told  that  Christ  had  a 
kingdom,  when  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  had  not  so  much  as  a 
home.  These  are  great  contradictions,  and  it  is  simply  in  vain 
for  us  to  try  to  force  a  reconciliation  ;  reconciliation  can  only  be 
wrought,  if  wrought  at  all,  by  time,  often  long  and  dreary. 

"  The  eleven  disciples  went  away  into  Galilee,  into  a  mountain 
where  Jesus  had  appointed  them  ;  .  .  .  and  Jesus  came  and  spake 
unto  them,  saying,  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  in 
earth." — And  there  is  nothing  of  boast  or  vaunt  in  the  Lord's 
sweet  tone.  It  is  as  if  the  sown  wheat  had  said  in  golden  harvest, 
"  Behold,  I  have  been  brought  up  from  the  depths  of  death,  and 
my  life  is  an  hundredfold  more  than  before."  It  is  thus,  .through 
all  the  ages,  that  the  good  man  comes  to  his  strength  and  crown, 
— through  pain  and  tears,  through  nights  of  gloom  and  days  of 
toil,  and  grief  that  makes  the  heart  grow  old,  and  forsakenness 
that  makes  a  man  afraid  of  his  own  voice,  so  weird  and  so  mourn- 
ful is  life  in  its  emptiness  and  silence  !  It  is  a  long  way,  you  see, 
and  some  men  die  before  they  get  a  glimpse  of  its  sunny  end. 
How,  then,  as  to  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  that  to  be  right  is  to  be 


3H  MATTHEW  IV.  8,  9. 

rich  ?  To  test  that  doctrine  you  must  get  into  the  very  heart  of 
the  sufferer  himself.  He  will  show  you  the  compensations  of  a 
righteous  life  ;  he  will  tell  you  how  sweet  is  the  bread  eaten  in 
secret,  how  holy  and  all-comforting  is  the  approval  of  a  good  con- 
science, and  how  infinite  is  the  independence  of  the  soul  whose 
trust  is  in  God.  In  such  a  case  the  poverty  is  wholly  on  the  out- 
side :  the  soul  is  clothed  in  more  than  purple  and  fine  linen,  and 
is  rich  with  more  than  gold.  Outside,  things  are  rough  enough 
undoubtedly  ;  the  storm  does  not  spare  the  roof,  nor  do  the  rags 
keep  away  the  biting  wind,  yet  somehow  the  man  who  is  right  has 
a  quiet  and  thorough  mastery  over  the  circumstances  which  fret 
and  vex  the  mere  surface  of  his  life.  The  king  is  within.  The 
fountain  of  his  joy  is  not  dependent  on  the  clouds,  but  on  "  the 
river  of  God,  which  is  full  of  water."  "  The  ungodly  are  not  so, 
but  are  like  the  chaff  which  the  wind  driveth  away." 

Whilst  all  this  is  true,  and  is  sealed  as  such  by  the  oath  of  a 
number  which  no  man  can  number,  it  is  also  outwardly  true,  so 
to  speak  ;  that  is  to  say,  goodness  rises  to  its  right  position  in  the 
world  and  takes  the  throne  of  supreme  and  imperishable  power. 
In  the  last  result  it  is  goodness  that  conquers  and  rules.  "  The 
righteous  shall  flourish  like  the  palm  tree,  he  shall  grow  like  a 
cedar  in  Lebanon."  "  He  shall  be  as  a  tree  planted  by  the 
waters,  and  that  spreadeth  out  her  roots  by  the  river,  and  shall  not 
see  when  heat  cometh,  but  her  leaf  shall  be  green."  "  Say  ye  to 
the  righteous  that  it  shall  be  well  with  him  :  for  they  shall  see  the 
fruit  of  their  doings. "  Now  and  again  life  suddenly  opens,  and 
we  see  flashes  and  glimpses  of  what  is  coming  upon  the  world. 
In  the  midst  of  tumult  and  blasphemy,  so  mad  that  we  think  there 
is  no  more  chance  for  goodness,  we  see  such  homage  paid  to  right 
as  gives  hope  of  its  final  conviction  and  universal  sway.  There 
are  conflicts  in  which  character  determines  the  issue.  In  times 
of  panic  goodness  is  relied  upon.  In  affliction  and  sorrow  and 
ruin,  it  is  the  good  man  who  is  sent  for.  When  the  fierce  wind 
throws  down  strong  walls,  and  the  whole  air  is  black  with  cruel 
plague  and  pest,  sparing  neither  old  nor  young,  neither  woman 
nor  child,  he  who  prays  best  is  king.  So,  even  in  the  outer 
world,  and  in  tangible  and  visible  ways,  goodness  comes  to  recog- 
nition and  honour,  in  addition  to  its  being  accompanied  by  inward 
and  spiritual  satisfactions. 


CORRECT  PRINCIPLES.  315 

After  this  course  of  thinking  we  should  be  able  to  set  down  for 
human  guidance  one  or  two  principles  which  seem,  at  least,  to 
reach  the  point  of  certainty.      Such  as  : — 

First  :  Right  ideas  of  worship  will  show  the  exact  line  of  per- 
sonal denial  and  sacrifice.  Be  right  in  heart  towards  God,  and 
you  will  know  what  to  do  in  the  time  of  flattering  offers  and 
splendid  opportunities. 

Second  :  It  is  through  temptation  that  we  learn  the  true  value  of 
many  convictions  and  habits.  From  our  point  of  view  it  may 
seem  a  small  thing  to  give  up  worship  that  we  may  win  kingdoms  ; 
it  might  seem  indeed  as  if  we  were  getting  the  kingdoms  for  next 
to  nothing.  The  devil  did  not  reckon  so.  He  aims  to  get  our 
worship,  for  he  who  has  the  heart  has  all  ! 

Third  :  Self-denial,  in  the  name  and  strength  of  God,  may  be 
a  long  time  in  coming  to  fruition  in  honour  and  dominion, — at 
least  visibly,  as  we  have  just  said.  In  the  case  of  Christ  it  took 
nearly  three  years  to  die  and  rise  and  ripen,  but  in  its  ripening  it 
filled  heaven  and  earth  !  "If  we  suffer  with  Christ  we  shall  also 
reign  with  him." 

Fourth  :  Whatever  we  have,  much  or  little,  of  comfort,  or 
honour,  or  influence,  let  it  be  as  a  flower  ripened  in  the  sun  ; 
something  coming  up  out  of  a  deep  true  character  ;  beauty  added 
to  strength.     Woe  to  the  bloom  that  is  artificial  ! 

In  the  long  run,  then,  we  shall  get  our  right  position  ;  our  sor- 
rows will  become  our  joys  ;  our  sacrifices  will  be  turned  into  our 
victories  :  and,  truly,  in  a  sense  impossible  to  express  in  words, 
we  shall  not  serve  God  for  nought.  To  suffer  in  the  right  spirit  is 
our  daily  difficulty.  It  is  easy  to  suffer  defiantly  ;  it  is  almost 
comfortable  to  suffer  ostentatiously  ;  but  to  suffer  as  if  we  were 
not  suffering,  even  with  meekness,  quietness,  and  long  patience, 
to  enter  into  the  "  fellowship"  of  Christ's  sufferngs,  and  to  work 
out  our  course  just  as  he  did,  who  is  sufficient  ?  Bravado  will 
come  to  nothing.  Selfish  martyrdom  will  have  no  holy  resurrec- 
tion. Morbid  pride  in  the  neglect  and  disparagement  accorded 
by  the  public  will  end  in  no  blessing.  Unrepining  resignation, 
deep  and  loving  trust  in  God,  earnest  diligence  in  all  duty,  loyal 
obedience  to  every  sign  of  our  Father's  will, — out  of  this  discipline 
will  come  sweetest  joys,  honours  as  the  stars  for  number,  and 
peace  deep  as  the  calm  of  heaven. 


JESUS  CHRIST'S  CLAIM  FOR  HIMSELF. 

"  I  proceeded  forth  and  came  from  God." — John  viii-  42. 

SHALL  I  startle  you  if  I  say,  notwithstanding  the  multitude 
of  books  written  upon  the  life  of  Christ,  there  is  yet  not 
only  room  but  necessity  for  a  volume  to  be  written  on  that  unex- 
hausted theme  ?  We  have  had  outward  lives  of  Christ  enough, 
perhaps  more  than  enough  :  lives  that  tell  us  about  places  and 
dates  and  occurrences  :  books  of  beautiful  colouring,  high  descrip- 
tion of  locality  and  scenery,  and  the  like.  All  the  circumstantial 
occurrences  of  the  life  of  the  Son  of  God  have  been  given  us  with 
tedious  and  painful  minuteness  and  repetition  by  bookmakers  of 
various  degrees.  What  then  is  this  other  book  we  want  ?  A 
complement,  a  completion,  and  an  explanation  of  all  other  books, 
viz.,  "  The  Inner  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  Not  a 
life  of  circumstances,  but  a  life  of  thoughts,  purposes,  feelings, 
aspirations,  desires  ;  the  inward,  spiritual,  metaphysical,  eternal 
life  of  Christ.  Can  it  ever  be  written  ?  It  will  be  often  attempted 
— it  will  never  be  done,  for  no  limited  book  can  exhaust  an  illimi- 
table subject. 

Until  we  study  this  inner  life  of  Christ  deeply,  all  the  outward 
life  of  Christ  will  be  a  plague  to  our  intellect  and  a  mortification 
to  our  heart  :  we  shall  always  be  coming  upon  things  we  cannot 
understand  and  cannot  explain  ;  not  only  so,  we  shall  be  coming 
upon  things  that  seem  to  confront  the  understanding  and  to  defy 
the  intelligence  of  men.  But  if  we  get  into  sympathy  with  the 
inward  spiritual  life  of  Christ,  then  we  shall  do  what  Christ  did — 
move  out  upon  these  outward  and  visible  things  and  see  them  in 
their  right  relations  and  colours  and  proportions.  The  inward 
always  explains  the  outward  ;  why  should  it  not  be  so  in  this 
greatest  case  of  all  ?  Come  to  the  outward  only,  and  you  will 
have  controversy,  difficulty,  discrepancy,  intellectual  annoyance, 
moral  surprise,  and  perhaps  spiritual  disappointment.      But  begin 


POSSIBLE  DECEPTION.  317 

at  the  other  end — get  to  know  the  man's  soul,  get  into  sympathy 
with  his  purpose,  see  somewhat  of  the  scope  and  the  outlook  of 
his  mental  nature,  and  then  you  will  take  up  the  miracles  as  a  very- 
little  thing. 

Let  me  now  give  you,  roughly,  some  hints  of  the  kind  of  thing 
that  is  wanted.  Suppose  we  saw  one  of  the  miracles  of  Christ. 
So  far  control  your  mind  as  actually  to  realize  that  you  are  present 
at  what  was  called,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  the  raising  of  the  dead. 
Let  us  make  this  as  realistic  as  we  can  :  the  dead  man  is  here,  the 
living  Christ  is  here,  the  mourning  friends  are  here — and  presently 
the  dead  man  rises  and  begins  to  speak  to  us,  and  we  have  seen 
what  is  called  the  miracle  of  resurrection.  But  now,  is  it  trick  or 
miracle  you  have  seen  ?  Is  it  an  illusion  or  a  fact  ?  How  am  I 
to  determine  this  question  ?  I  cannot  determine  it  in  itseif. 
Why  ?  Because  my  eyes  have  been  so  often  deceived.  I  have 
seen  what  I  could  have  declared  to  have  been  the  most  positive 
and  absolute  facts,  and  yet  when  the  explanation  has  been  given  I 
have  been  obliged  to  confess  that  I  was  deceived  and  befooled  by 
my  own  vision.  If  it  has  been  so  in  a  hundred  cases,  why  not  so 
in  this  ?  At  all  events,  there  is  that  suggestion  which  may  be 
pressed  upon  me  until  it  becomes  a  temptation,  and  the  temptation 
may  be  urged  upon  me  so  vehemently  and  persistently  as  almost 
to  shake  and  destroy  my  faith.  I  can  declare  that  I  saw  a  man 
get  up — but  the  conjurer  comes  to  me  and  says,  "  I  will  show 
you  something  equally  deceiving."  I  go,  and  I  see  his  avowed 
trick  :  it  does  baffle  me  and  surprise  me  exceedingly,  and  if  he 
then  shall  follow  up  that  conquest,  and  shall  say,  "  It  was  just  the 
same  with  what  you  thought  the  raising  of  the  dead,"  he  will  leave 
me  intellectually  in  a  state  of  self-torment.  I  shall  still  think  I 
saw  the  event,  but  he  will  continue  to  perplex  my  vision  by  a 
thousand  tricks,  and  show  me  how  impossible  it  is  for  any  man  to 
trust  his  eyesight. 

Then  what  am  I  to  do  ?  Leave  the  outward  altogether.  Watch 
the  man  who  performed  the  miracle  —  listen  to  him  :  if  his 
thoughts  are  deep  and  pure,  if  his  mental  triumphs  are  equal  to 
his  physical  miracles,  then  admire  and  trust  and  love  him.  Take 
this  same  conjurer  just  referred  to.  When  he  is  on  the  stage,  and, 
so  to  speak,  in  character,  he  seems  to  be  working  miracles  :  they 
are  miracles  to  me.     Therefore,   indeed,   I  go  to  see  them,  and 


3i8  yOHN   VIII.  42. 

have  no  other  reason  than  to  be  baffled  and  surprised  and  con- 
founded, and  to  have  my  keenest  watchfulness  returned  to  me 
without  the  prize  which  it  coveted.  His  tricks  outrun  my  vision 
— my  eye  cannot  follow  his  supple  hand.  How  then  ?  When  he 
comes  off  the  stage  and  begins  to  talk  on  general  subjects  I  begin 
to  feel  my  equality  with  him  rising  and  asserting  itself.  On  the 
stage  I  could  not  touch  him — watching  his  hand  I  could  not  follow 
its  manipulations  at  all.  But  when  he  comes  away  from  his 
official  character  and  his  professional  region,  and  begins  to  speak 
upon  subjects  with  which  I  am  familiar,  I  sound  the  depths  of  his 
mind,  and  get  the  exact  measure  of  his  character,  and  then  he 
becomes  clever,  artful,  surprising,  delightful — but  only  a  wizard, 
only  a  conjurer  :  wonderful  with  his  wand  in  his  fingers,  nothing 
without  it. 

So  when  I  go  to  Christ  as  a  mere  stranger,  I  see  him  raising  the 
dead,  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  and  I  say,  ' '  We  have  seen 
these  things  attempted  before,  and  very  wonderful  successes  have 
followed  the  wand  of  the  wizard  and  the  word  of  the  enchanter. 
This  man  may  be  but  cleverest  of  the  host,  prince  of  princes, 
Beelzebub  of  the  Beelzebubs.  I  will,  therefore,  not  go  further 
into  this  case  ;  I  have  no  time  to  examine  this  man's  credentials, 
I  must  be  about  another  and  a  higher  order  of  business  ;"  but 
when  he  begins  to  talk  I  am  arrested  as  by  unexpected  music.  I 
say  to  him,  "  Speak  on."  His  words  are  equal  to  his  works. 
He  is  the  same  off  the  platform  as  on  it.  Not  only  do  I  say,  "  I 
never  saw  it  on  this  fashion  before;"  but  I  also  say,  "I  never 
heard  \i  on  this  fashion  before."  I  listen  to  his  thoughts,  to  his 
purposes,  to  his  desires,  and  I  find  that  he  is  as  inimitable  in  his 
thinking  as  he  is  in  his  working  and  acting.  What  then  ?  I  am 
bound  to  account  for  this  consistency.  All  other  men  have  been 
manifest  exemplifications  of  self-inequality.  We  know  clever  men 
who  are  fools,  strong  men  who  are  weak,  eloquent  men  who 
stammer,  men  who  are  great  in  this  direction,  small  in  some 
other,  self-contradictions,  self-anomalies  ;  and  this  want  of  self- 
consistency  and  self-coherence  is  at  once  a  proof  of  their  being 
merely  men.  But  if  I  find  a  Man  in  whom  this  fact  of  inequality 
does  not  exist,  who  is  as  great  in  thinking  as  in  working,  who  says 
that  if  I  could  follow  him  still  higher  I  should  find  him  greater  in 
thinking  than  it  is  possible  for  any  mere  man  to  be  in  acting ; 


THE  PLACE    OF  THE  MIRACLES.  319 

then  I  have  to  account  for  that  consistency  which  I  have  met 
nowhere  else,  and  to  listen  to  this  Man's  explanation  of  it  :  "I 
proceeded  forth  and  came  from  God;"  "lam  from  above  ;" 
that  explanation  alone  will  cover  all  the  ground  which  he  boldly 
and  permanently  occupies. 

It  will  be  infinitely  interesting  to  study  the  inner  life  of  Christ  ; 
to  make  ourselves,  so  far  as  possible,  as  familiar  with  his  thoughts 
as  we  are  with  his  works.  And  if  we  do  this,  we  shall  come  to 
set  the  same  value  upon  his  miracles  that  he  himself  did.  What 
value  did  he  set  upon  his  miracles  for  their  own  sake  ?  None. 
When  did  he  ever  say,  "  Behold  this  mighty  triumph  of  my 
power,  ye  sons  of  men  ?"  Never.  When  did  he  sound  a  trumpet 
and  convoke  a  mighty  host  to  see  the  loosing  of  a  dumb  tongue, 
and  the  opening  of  a  blind  eye  ?  Never.  When  did  he  ever 
make  anything  of  his  miracles  other  than  something  merely 
elementary  and  introductory,  and  of  the  nature  of  example  and 
symbol  ?  Never.  How  was  this  ?  Because  he  was  so  much 
greater  within  than  he  was  without.  If  he  had  performed  the 
miracles  with  his  fingers  only,  he  might  have  been  proud  of  them  ; 
but  when  they  fell  out  of  the  infinity  of  his  thinking,  they  were 
mere  drops  trembling  on  the  bucket  :  they  were  as  nothing  before 
him.  We  might  as  well  follow  some  poor  breathing  of  ours  and 
say,  "  Behold,  how  wonderful  was  that  sighing  in  the  wind  !'' 
It  is  nothing  to  us,  because  of  the  greater  life.  And  these 
miracles  are  puzzles,  enigmas,  confounding  surprises  to  people 
who  will  come  to  Christ,  along  the  line  which  begins  in  the  out- 
ward, in  the  visible,  in  the  circumstantial.  If  ever  they  can  get 
hold  of  his  heart,  and  speak  to  him  face  to  face  for  five  minutes, 
they  will  feel  the  heaving  of  his  great  sympathetic  bosom  ;  they 
will  see  the  miracles  as  he  saw  them,  then  they  will  appear  to  be 
very  little  things,  momentary  spasms,  examples  to  guide  children 
through  the  grammar  of  a  higher  law,  mere  exemplifications, 
symbols,  types  of  the  infinite  and  the  inexpressible. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  this  Man  once  said,  "  Greater  works 
than  these  shall  ye  do  ;"  but  I  will  ask  you  to  find  a  passage  in 
which  he  ever  said,  "  Greater  thoughts  than  these  shall  ye  think." 
I  cannot  find  such  a  passage.  You  must  not  forget  that  in  your 
argument  about  Christ's  divinity,  when  he  piled  up  his  miracles, 
raising  the  dead,  opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  feeding  the  hungry 


32o  JOHN   VIII.  42. 

miraculously,  unloosing  dumb  tongues  and  unstopping  deaf  ears  ; 
when  he  aggregated  them  all  into  one  sublime  spectacle,  he  said, 
"  Greater  works  than  these  shall  ye  do  ;"  but  never  did  he  say, 
"  Greater  thoughts  than  these  shall  ye  think,  greater  words  than 
these  shall  ye  speak,  greater  purposes  than  these  shall  ye  con- 
ceive."  There  he  touched  the  unsearchable  riches  of  his  own 
nature,  as  in  the  miracles  he  pointed  to  circumstances  and  to 
events  which  would  receive  larger  unfoldment  as  the  ages  went  on. 

Now  let  us  look  at  this  inner  life  of  Christ,  from  two  or  three 
points.  I  watch  this  Man  day  by  day,  and  I  am  struck  with 
wonder  at  his  amazing  power,  and  the  question  arises,  What  is 
the  impelling  sense  of  his  duty  ?  Why  does  he  do  these  things  ? 
And  he  answers,  frankly,  ' '  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business?"  Never  did  prophet  give  that  explanation 
before.  His  working  from  his  Father's  point  of  view,  in  the  light 
of  his  Father's  will  ;  it  is  the  paternal  element  that  is  moving  him. 
He  has  given  me  that  as  his  key  ;  I  will  put  it  into  every  lock  of 
his  life  to  see  whether  he  has  entrusted  me  with  the  proper  key  or 
not.  I  defy  the  world  to  find  him  wrong  as  to  the  use  of  this  key. 
Put  it  where  you  like,  the  lock  answers  it ;  and  is  no  credit  to  be 
given  to  a  Speaker  who,  at  twelve  years  of  age,  took  the  key  from 
off  his  girdle,  put  it  into  the  hands  of  inquirers,  and  told  them  to 
go  round  the  whole  circle  of  his  life  with  that  key  in  their  hands  ? 
He  was  but  a  boy  when  he  gave  up  that  key — he  was  but  twelve 
years  old — approaching  manhood  by  Jewish  reckoning,  but  merely 
a  child  in  years.  Can  he  keep  up  the  high  strain  ?  Listen  : 
"  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."  "  I  and  my  Father 
are  one."  Can  he  sustain  that  high  key  when  he  is  in  trouble  ? 
Listen  :  "  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me." 
Can  he  go  higher  still  ?  Listen  :  "  Father,  into  thy  hands  I 
commend  my  spirit."  O  ye  who  know  the  modes  of  music,  tell 
me,  is  this  harmony?  The  key-note  is,  "Father;"  away  the 
Anthem  rolls,  high  as  heaven,  deep  as  hell,  tortuous  as  the  paths 
of  the  forked  lightning,  and  yet  with  infinite  precision  it  returns 
to  its  initial  note.  Give  Christ  credit  for  this.  He  was  but  a 
Galilean  peasant  ;  give  him  what  honour  is  due  for  preserving  his 
rhythmic  consistency  through  a  course,  not  rugged  only,  but  most 
tragical  and  unparalleled. 

Arguing  from  that  point,  another  question  suggests  itself.     If 


CHRIST'S  DOMINANT  FEELING.  321 

this  Man  is  about  his  Father's  business,  what  is  his  supreme 
feeling  ?  What  answer  would  you  expect  to  an  inquiry  like  that, 
after  the  self-explanation  which  Jesus  Christ  has  given  ?  Is  his 
supreme  feeling  a  £oncem  for  the  dignity  of  the  law  ?  Is  he 
jealous  with  an  infinite  jealousy  for  the  righteousness  of  God  ? 
Does  he  come  forth  from  his  hiding-place  saying,  "  I  am  jealous 
for  the  holiness  of  my  God  ;  I  must  vindicate  the  righteousness  of 
the  Unseen  and  Eternal  One?"  No.  What  is  the  dominant 
feeling  of  this  Man  Christ  Jesus  ?  It  is  named  again  and  again  in 
the  New  Testament.  No  change  ever  occurs  in  the  term,  and  I 
will  ask  you  to  say  how  far  it  corresponds  with  the  first  declara- 
tion, "Jesus  was  moved  with  compassion."  Ye  musicians,  tell 
me  if  that  be  consonant  and  harmonious?  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I 
must  be  about  my  Father's  business?  Jesus  was  moved  with 
compassion."  It  was  always  so  ;  the  word  "compassion"  occurs 
in  no  solitary  instance  alone,  though  its  occurrence  in  one  instance 
would  still  have  been  argument  enough.  But  from  beginning  to 
end  of  his  life  he  is  moved  with  compassion.  "  Jesus,  here  are 
some  thousands  of  people  that  have  been  with  thee  three  days  and 
have  nothing  to  eat. ' '  Does  he  wait  for  us  to  say  that  ?  No. 
"  But  Jesus  was  moved  with  compassion  when  he  remembered  " 
that  the  multitudes  were  in  that  condition.  Coming  out  once, 
and  looking  upon  the  crowds,  "  He  was  moved  with  compassion, 
for  they  were  as  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd. ' '  When  he  was. 
walking  after  a  funeral  to  the  grave,  "Jesus  wept."  And  when 
people  came  to  him  they  seemed  to  know  this  sympathetically, 
for  they  said,  "  Jesus,  Son  of  David,  have  mercy  upon  us,  have 
compassion  on  us,  thou  Son  of  God."  He  speaks  like  a  Son, 
and  is  thus  faithful  to  a  Father  s  message. 

What  explanation  does  he  give  of  his  own  miracles  ?  Once  he 
gave  us  an  explanation,  as  it  were,  incidentally  and  unconsciously, 
but  we  caught  the  word,  and  it  saved  us  from  unbelief  and 
explained  all  mysteries.  How  was  that  long-ailing  woman  cured  ? 
"  Virtue  hath  gone  out  of  me."  He  did  not  say,  "  I  have  per- 
formed this  with  my  fingers  ;  this  is  an  act  of  manipulation  which 
no  other  man  ever  learned  to  do  ;  it  was  by  swiftness  and  sup- 
pleness and  dexterity,  and  by  a  mysterious  flashing  of  the  fingers 
over  certain  parts  of  the  affected  body."  No,  but  he  perceived 
that  virtue  had  gone  out  of  him.     No  trickster,   but  a  mighty 


\/ 


322  JOHN   VIII.  42. 

sympathiser, — no  manipulator,  but  infinite  in  the  exercise  and 
processes  of  his  redeeming  power.  Whatever  he  did  took  some- 
thing out  of  him.  Behold  the  difference  between  the  artificial  and 
the  real.  What  did  our  redemption  cost  ?  The  healing  of  one 
poor  sufferer  took  "  virtue"  out  of  him.  What  did  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  take  out  of  him  when  he  said,  "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  The  last  pulse  gone.  Is  he 
self-consistent  still  ?     Still  ! 

And  to  what  are  all  his  triumphs  eventually  referred  ?  To  his 
Soul.  Not  to  his  intellectual  ability — not  to  his  skill  of  finger — 
not  to  his  physical  endurance,  but  to  his  Soul — an  undefinable 
term,  the  symbol  of  an  infinite  quantity.  "  He  shall  see  of  the 
travail  of  his  soul  and  shall  be  satisfied."  You  know  the  meaning 
of  the  word  in  some  degree.  One  man  paints  with  paint — 
another  paints  with  his  soul.  One  is  a  clever  mechanic — another 
an  inborn  and  indestructible  genius.  One  man  speaks  with  his 
teeth  and  tongue  and  palate — another  speaks  with  his  soul  :  they 
use  the  same  words,  but  not  the  same,  as  Hermon  was  not  the 
same  with  the  dew  off  ;  as  the  bush  was  not  the  same  before  the 
fire  came  into  it.  You  say  one  man  sings  artificially,  mechani- 
cally, correctly— every  tone  is  right  ;  the  proper  balance,  the 
proper  measure,  the  proper  quantity  :  artificially  the  exercise  is 
beyond  criticism,  but  still  the  people  sit  unmoved.  Another  man 
takes  up  the  same  words  and  the  same  notes,  and  the  people  are 
stirred  like  Lebanon  by  a  wind,  like  Bashan  when  the  storm 
roars.  How  is  it  ?  The  one  man  is  artificial,  the  other  is  real 
— the  one  man  has  learned  his  lesson,  the  other  man  had 
the  lesson  awakened  in  him — it  was  there  before,  and  an  angel 
passed  by  and  said,  "It  is  morning:  awake  and  sing."  This 
Christ,  this  dear  Son  of  God,  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
of  the  outgoing  of  his  blood — he  sows  the  earth  with  the  red  seed 
of  his  blood  and  he  shall  see  the  harvest  and  be  satisfied.  He  was 
often  wearied  with  his  journeying  :  when  was  he  wearied  with  his 
miracles  ?  His  bones  were  tired  :  when  was  his  mind  enfeebled  ? 
The  instruments  of  articulation  might  be  exhausted,  but  when 
did  the  word  ever  come  with  less  than  the  old  emphasis — the  fiat 
that  made  the  sun  ? 

Let  us  now  ask — What  did  this  man  claim /or  himself  ?  It  will 
assist  us  in  our  study  if  we  hear  from  his  own  lips  a  distinct  state- 


AN  ALMOST  REVELATION.  323 

ment  of  what  he  does  claim  on  his  own  account.  Reading  in  the 
book  of  Exodus  about  the  great  God,  I  find  that  he  gave  his  name 
as  "  I  AM,"  that  he  amplified  that  name  into,  "  I  AM  THAT  I 
AM."  We  could  make  nothing  of  that  name  ;  it  was  too  remote 
for  us  ;  our  genius  had  never  been  in  such  high  regions,  never 
scaled  altitudes  so  perilous.  We  could  therefore  but  wonder. 
The  name  sounded  grandly  ;  it  had  in  it  all  the  boom  of  an  in- 
finite mystery,  and  we  were  content  with  it,  because  the  condescen- 
sions which  that  same  God  made  to  this  human  life  of  ours  were 
so  mighty  yet  so  pitiful,  so  wondrous  in  their  sweep  and  yet  so 
compassionate  in  their  lingerings  that  we  had  begun  to  think, 
though  the  name  was  mysterious,  the  grace  was  familiar  enough. 
A  marvellous  word  was  that  spoken  to  Moses — "  I  AM  ;"  it 
seemed  as  if  it  were  going  io  be  a  revelation,  but  suddenly  it 
returned  upon  itself,  came  back  to  its  centre,  and  finished  with — 
"  THAT  I  AM  !"  As  if  the  sun  were  just  about  to  come  from 
behind  a  great  cloud,  and  suddenly,  after  one  dazzling  gleam,  hide 
itself  behind  a  cloud  denser  still.  The  fulness  of  the  time  had 
not  yet  come.  God's  "  hour"  was  not  yet.  He  had  said,  "  I 
AM,"  but  what  he  was  he  did  not  further  say.  By-and-by  more 
will  be  said.  It  will  be  interesting,  therefore,  to  inquire  whether 
Jesus  Christ  connects  himself  with  that  mysterious  name,  "  I  AM 
THAT  I  AM."  If  I  can  trace  his  talking,  his  thinking,  his 
preaching,  so  as  to  find  one  point  in  connection  between  himself 
and  that  great  name,  then  a  new  and  large  argument  will  take  its 
inception,  and  a  new  and  subtle  evidence  will  be  put  in  that  this 
Man  was  more  than  man — as  mysterious  as  the  Name,  perhaps  as 
gracious.      Let  us  see. 

I  cannot  read  the  life  of  Christ  without  constantly  coming  upon 
the  expression,  "  I  AM."  Reading  it,  I  say,  I  have  met  these 
words  before,  and  wonder  where.  My  memory  bethinks  itself, 
and  I  hasten  back  into  the  grey  old  pages  of  the  ancient  time,  and 
find  that  the  Lord  revealed  himself  unto  Moses  as  "  I  AM  THAT 
I  AM."  I  want  to  know,  therefore,  if  this  great  ladder,  the  top 
of  which  is  in  heaven,  can  by  any  means  find  a  place  upon  the 
earth  ;  can  it  come  down  that  I  may  touch  it  ?  Yes.  Jesus  adds 
to  the  "  I  AM  "  little  words,  simple  earthly  words,  nursery  terms, 
school  ideas — brings  down  the  ' '  I  AM  ' '  so  that  we  may  touch 
its  lower  meaning,  and  hear  its  earthly  messages.     It  will,  then, 


324  JOHN   VIII.  42. 


be  most  interesting  to  see  how  this  is  done,  and  to  listen  to  this 
modified  music  of  the  Eternal. 

What  does  Jesus  say  after  the  words  "  I  am  ?"  He  says  every- 
thing that  human  fancy  ever  conceived  concerning  strength,  and 
beauty,  and  sympathy,  and  tenderness,  and  redemption.  He 
absorbs  the  whole.  He  leaves  nothing  for  you  and  me  except  as 
secondary  owners,  except  as  those  who  derive  their  status  and  their 
lustre  from  himself.  Thus,  "I  am  .  .  .  the  Vine."  What  a 
stoop  !  Could  any  but  God  have  taken  up  that  figure  ?  Think 
it  out.  You  have  heard  it  until  you  have  become  familiar  with  it 
— forget  your  familiarity,  think  yourself  back  to  the  original  line, 
and  then  consider  that  One  has  appeared  in  the  human  race,  who 
says  without  reservation  or  qualification  of  any  kind  or  degree,  ' '  I 
am  the  Vine."  Thus  is  the  mysterious  simplified;  thus  is  the 
abstract  turned  into  the  concrete  and  the  inner  into  the  visible, 
the  simple,  and  the  approachable.  Will  he  ever  say  "I  am" 
again?  Many  a  time.  Let  us  hear  him.  "lam  the  Light." 
Ah,  we  know  what  the  light  is  ;  it  is  here,  and  there,  and  every- 
where— takes  up  no  room,  yet  fills  all  space  ;  warms  the  planets, 
yet  does  not  crush  a  twig.  The  "  I  am"  fell  upon  us  like  a 
mighty  thundering.  "lam  the  Light"  came  to  us  like  a  child's 
lesson  in  our  mother's  nursery.  Thus  doth  he  incarnate  or 
embody  or  personify  himself — thus  doth  the  ladder  rest  in  the 
mean  dust,  whilst  its  head  is  lifted  up  above  the  pavilions  of  the 
stars. 

Will  he  say  "  I  am"  any  more?  Often.  How?  Listen  : 
"  I  am  the  Door."  Dare  any  but  himself  have  taken  upon  him 
so  mean  a  figure  ?  "  Ah,"  said  he,  "  it  is  not  a  mean  figure  if 
you  interpret  it  aright.  A  door  is  more  than  deal.  A  door  is 
more  than  an  arrangement  swinging  upon  hinges.  A  door  is 
Welcome,  Hospitality,  Approach,  Home,  Warmth,  Honour,  Son- 
ship — I  am  the  Door."  Still  more  :  "  I  am  the  Bread,  I  am  the 
Water,  I  am  the  Good  Shepherd,  I  am  the  Way,  I  am  the  Truth,  I 
am  the  Life."  When  I  see  how  this  Man  absorbs  all  beauteous 
figures,  all  high  and  tender  emblems,  I  begin  to  think  that  there 
is  nothing  left  for  us  by  which  to  distinguish  ourselves  figuratively 
and  typically.  If  we  take  any  of  these  words,  they  must  be  taken 
as  with  his  signature  upon  them,  having  a  first  lien  and  a  prior 
claim  ;    we  are  but  intermediary  and  temporary,   and  altogether 


CHRIST'S   CLAIM  FROM  MEN.  325 

subordinate  in  our  stewardship  and  right  of  status.  How  any 
man  could  be  a  man  only,  and  yet  take  up  these  figures,  it  is 
impossible  for  me  to  believe.  It  is  easier  for  me  to  say,  "  My 
Lord  and  my  God,"  than  to  say,  "  Equal  with  me  ;  better  only 
in  the  accidents  of  the  case." 

Seeing  that  Christ  claims  so  much  for  himself,  it  will  be  equally 
interesting,  and  will  be  the  complement  of  the  same  subject,  to 
start  a  second  inquiry,  namely,  What  does  he  claim  from  men  r> 
He  claims  everything.  Sometimes  in  mean  mood  of  soul  I  have 
wondered  at  his  divine  voracity.  For  once,  a  woman  came  to  him 
who  had  only  one  box  of  spikenard,  and  he  took  it  all.  I  was 
amazed — half  distressed.  I  never  saw  such  impoverishment  made 
before.  He  did  not  say,  "  Give  me  part  of  it,"  but  took  it  every 
whit,  and  the  woman  had  no  more  left  of  that  precious  nard. 
Could  you  have  done  that  ?  Would  your  humanity  have  allowed 
you  to  do  it  ?  Surely,  you  would  have  said,  "  Part  of  it, — just  a 
little  ;  you  are  so  kind  as  to  offer  me  a  donation  out  of  your  one 
box  of  spikenard,  let  me  take  a  little  myself — I  must  not  have  it 
all."  But  this  Man,  what  said  he  ?  He  said,  "  Let  her  do  it — 
I  will  have  it  all,  substance  and  fragrance  too."  And  another 
woman — she  might  have  touched  his  heart  as  she  came  along,  for 
she  was  poor  and  poorly  clothed,  and  had  on  a  widow's  weeds — I 
expected  that  he  would  have  said,  "  Poor  woman,  we  cannot  take 
anything  from  you."  No;  she  came  along,  took  out  her  two 
mites,  which  make  one  farthing,  put  them  in,  and  he  took  them 
both  !  Is  he  man  ?  Is  that  humanity  ?  Strange  man  ;  marvel- 
lous exceeding  above  all  other  men  ;  not  only  did  he  take  them, 
out  he  said,  "  She  hath  done  more  than  anybody  else  who  came 
up  to  the  treasury  :  she  hath  cast  in  all  her  living." 

Is  he  doing  the  selfsame  thing  in  our  own  day  ?  Verily  he  is  ! 
Look  at  this  family,  father  and  mother,  with  a  boy  and  a  girl  as 
their  sweet  children.  How  many  things  has  that  boy  been,  in  his 
father's  hopeful  dreams!  A  lawyer  and  a  judge  ;  then  a  clergy- 
man and  a  bishop  ;  then  a  merchant,  a  politician,  a  statesman, 
and  a  prime  minister  !  But  one  day  the  mother  says  that  she  feels 
"something  is  going  to  happen  ;"  a  vague  expression,  but  full 
of  deep  and  sad  meaning  to  her  own  soul.  She  tells  her  husband 
that  "  something  is  going  to  happen,"  and  he  smiles  at  the  shape- 
less and  nameless  fear.     And  what  does  happen  ?     A  proposal 


326  JOHN   VIII.  42. 


that  the  boy  should  become  a  missionary  I  What !  the  only  son  ? 
Yes  !  "It  cannot  be, ' '  says  the  stunned  father  ;  ' '  no,  no,  it 
must  not  be."  For  many  an  hour  there  is  silence  ;  ay,  for  days 
next  to  nothing  is  said,  but  many  a  wistful  look  is  exchanged. 
At  length  the  mother  says,  "  I  have  been  thinking  and  praying 
about  this,  and  I  remember  that  good  Mr.  Wesley  used  to  open 
the  Bible  to  see  what  answer  God  sent  him  to  his  prayers,  and  I 
have  got  my  answer  to-day.  After  prayer  I  opened  the  Bible,  and 
my  eyes  could  see  no  other  words  but  these  :  '  Even  so,  Father, 
for  so  it  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight.'  He  must  go."  The  father 
is  silent.  A  great  weight  of  grief  burdens  his  heart.  He,  too, 
goes  to  pray — goes  a  hale  man  under  fifty — comes  back  in  an 
hour  an  old  man,  crushed,  blanched,  withered,  and  grey,  "but 
more  than  conqueror,"  and  he,  too,  says  the  child — the  one  son, 
the  heir,  the  first-born  —  must  go.  And  Christ  takes  him  ! 
Humanity  would  have  spared  him  when  so  many  large  families 
could  have  furnished  a  missionary,  but  God  takes  him  ;  the  God 
that  took  the  spikenard  and  the  mites. 

It  will  be  curious  and  interesting  now  to  start  a  third  inquiry  to 
this  effect  :  How  did  the  people  who  were  round  about,  and  who  zvere 
not  malignantly  disposed,  who  constituted  the  better  class  of  His  contem- 
poraries, regard  Christ  P  Here  is  one  typical  man — a  man  of 
letters  and  of  local  renown,  careful  and  exact  in  speech,  somewhat 
timid  in  disposition,  yet  marked  by  that  peculiar  timidity  which  is 
capable  of  assuming  the  most  startling  boldness.  He  climbs  his 
way  up  to  Christ,  opens  the  door  in  the  dark,  goes  up  to  him,  and 
says  in  an  undertone,  lest  the  enemy  should  hear — "  Rabbi,  thou 
art  a  teacher  come  from  God."  Evidence  of  that  kind  must  not 
go  for  nothing.  Send  men  of  another  type  of  mind  to  him — men 
of  the  world,  shrewd,  keen  men.  Here  are  several  of  them  return- 
ing from  an  interview  with  the  Son  of  God.  I  hail  them  in 
English  terms,  and  say,  "  Gentlemen,  what  say  you  ?"  "  Never 
man  spake  like  this  Man."  Add  that  to  the  evidence  of  Nico- 
demus.  Here  are  women  coming  back  from  having  seen  the 
Lord  ;  tears  are  in  their  eyes.  What  will  they  say  ?  Never  yet 
did  woman  speak  one  word  against  the  Son  of  God  !  Mothers, 
did  you  see  anything  to  blame  ?  "  Nothing."  Women  of  pure 
soul — sensitive  as  keenest  life — what  saw  ye?  "The  Holiness 
of  God."     Pass  him  on  to  a  judge — cold,  dispassionate,   obser- 


THE  TEACHING  REVEALS   THE   TEACHER.       327 

vant,  not  easily  hoodwinked.  What  sayest  thou,  Roman  judge  ? 
"  I  find  no  fault  in  him."  What  is  that  coming  to  the  man  now, 
while  he  is  talking  ?  A  message.  What  saith  the  message  ?  It 
is  a  message  from  the  judge's  wife.  "  Have  thou  nothing  to  do 
with  this  just  person,  for  I  have  suffered  many  things  this  day  in  a 
dream  concerning  him."  Let  him  go — nail  his  right  hand,  nail 
his  left  hand,  nail  his  feet,  lift  high  the  dreadful  tree,  crush  it  into 
the  rock,  shake  every  nerve  and  fibre  of  his  poor  body,  let  him 
writhe  in  his  last  agony,  and  will  anybody  speak  about  him  then  ? 
Yes.  The  centurion  beholding  this,  accustomed  to  the  sight  of 
blood,  knowing  how  men  deport  themselves  in  judgment  halls  and 
in  prisons  and  in  the  supreme  crisis  of  existence,  said — "  Truly 
this  Man  was  the  Son  of  God. ' '  Observe  what  he  claimed  for 
himself — what  he  claimed  from  others.  Put  these  testimonies  of 
observers  one  after  the  other,  accumulate  them  into  a  complete 
appeal,  and  then  say  whether  it  be  not  easier  to  the  imagination 
and  the  heart  and  the  judgment  to  say,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God," 
than  to  use  meaner  terms. 

Another  question  arises  :  From  such  a  Man  what  teaching  may 
be  expected  P  Given,  a  man  distinguished  by  such  attributes  and 
elements  as  I  have  endeavoured  simply  to  indicate,  to  find  out 
what  kind  or  manner  of  teaching  and  public  ministry  we  may 
expect  from  him.  I  shall  first  expect  extemporaneousncss.  He 
cannot  want  time  to  make  his  sermons,  or  he  is  not  the  man  he 
claims  to  be.  He  is  not  an  essayist.  He  will  not  be  a  literary 
speaker  ;  there  will  be  a  peculiarity,  a  uniqueness,  a  personality 
about  him  not  to  be  found  otherwhere.  Does  he  retire  to  his 
study,  that  he  may  write  out  elaborate  sentences  full  of  nothing 
but  ink  ?  Will  he  come  before  me  as  a  literary  artist,  with  well- 
poised  sentences,  beautiful  periods,  sounding  climaxes,  leaving  the 
impression  that  he  has  wasted  the  midnight  oil,  and  taken  infinite 
pains  to  please  those  who  went  to  hear  him  ?  There  is  nothing 
literary  about  the  style  of  Christ ;  it  is  simple,  graphic  talk,  much 
broken  to  our  minds,  occasionally  incoherent,  rapid  in  transitions, 
utterly  wanting  in  all  elaboration,  and  the  balance  prized  by  men 
who  have  nothing  else  to  do  than  to  live  by  their  folly.  I  shall 
further  expect  instanlaneousness  of  reply  by  Christ  Jesus  if  He  be 
God.  God  cannot  want  time  to  think  what  he  will  say.  Does 
this  Man  ever  ask  for  time  ;  does  he  ever  adjourn  the  interview  ? 


328  JOHN   VIII.  42. 

He  answers  immediately,  and  he  answers  finally.  He  never  asks 
for  time  to  bethink  himself,  to  refer  to  the  authorities,  to  consult 
and  connote  the  precedents.  He  does  not  say,  "  You  have  posed 
me  by  an  unexpected  question  ;  I  must  retire  and  give  this  inquiry 
my  profoundest  consideration."  Never;  and  he  was  but  a  car- 
penter. He  had  just  thrown  the  apron  from  his  waist;  he  was 
but  a  peasant.  Rabbinical  culture  he  had  none,  high  connection 
disdained  the  mention  of  his  name,  and  yet  there  was  an  instan- 
taneousness  about  him  to  which  I  can  find  no  parallel  but  in  the 
"  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  Give  every  man  credit 
for  his  ability  ;  give  this  Man,  carpenter  and  peasant  of  Galilee, 
credit  for  having  extorted  from  his  enemies  the  acknowledgment, 
"  Never  man  spake  like  this  Man." 

What  do  I  find  in  this  Man's  teaching?  High  allegory,  types 
of  things  unseen,  incarnations  of  the  spiritual,  embodiments  of  the 
invisible,  parables  beautiful  as  pictures,  wide  as  philosophies, 
lasting  as  essential  truth.  Strange  man — marvellous  productions 
of  a  barren  soil.  Why,  he  himself  was  an  incarnation.  What 
was  his  ministry  ?  An  incarnation  too.  What  had  he  to  do  with 
the  men  who  heard  him,  and  all  succeeding  generations  ?  He 
had  to  embody,  to  physicalise  and  bodily  typify  the  kingdom  of 
God  :  hence  he  said,  "It  is  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  ;  like  a 
net  cast  into  the  sea  ;  like  treasure  hid  in  a  field  ;  like  leaven  hid 
in  three  measures  of  meal."  "  It  is  like  unto"  —  when  he  said 
that,  what  did  he  do  ?  He  repeated  his  own  birth.  He  renewed 
his  own  incarnation,  he  was  born  again  in  every  parable  that 
escaped  his  lips.  To  embody  the  bodiless,  to  typify  in  allegory 
and  figure  the  infinite  and  the  inexpressible,  was  the  all-culminat- 
ing miracle  of  this  peasant  of  Galilee.  Then  I  ask  myself,  "  Is  it 
consistent  with  all  I  have  heard  about  him  ?"  And  I  am  com- 
pelled to  say  it  is  exquisitely  in  consonance  with  all  we  have  yet 
seen  of  His  character  and  studied  of  His  speech.  A  Man  like  this 
coming  up  from  unbeginning  time  must  be  extemporaneous  in 
his  speech,  instantaneous  in  his  reply,  and  allegorical  and  typical 
and  symbolical  in  his  method  of  presenting  truth,  for  he  knows 
the  essential,  and  alone  can  give  it  beauty  and  expression,  and 
movement  and  colour.      Give  him  the  credit  due  to  his  power  ! 

Jesus  Christ's  is  the  kind  of  teaching  that  survives  all  the 
changes  of  time.     It  is  seminal  teaching  ;  it  is  not  like  a  full- 


THE  INCARNATION  OF  DOCTRINE.  329 

blown  garden,  it  is  like  treasures  of  living  seeds  and  roots,  and 
therefore  it  abides  for  ever.  Where  are  the  grand  and  stately  and 
polished  sermons  of  the  great  doctors  of  the  Church  ?  Do  you 
know  ?  I  do  not.  But  they  were  grand,  were  they  not  ?  Why 
didn't  you  keep  them  then?  But  they  were  stately,  majestic, 
complete,  cathedral-like,  strong  in  base,  exquisite  in  pinnacle, 
almost  fluttering  in  the  delicacy  of  their  architecture  ;  indeed,  why 
didn't  you  take  better  care  of  them?  Where  are  they?  Gone 
into  a  stately  past — majestic  shadows  of  a  majestic  oblivion. 
What  lives  ?  Suggestiveness,  what  is  called  incoherence,  want  of 
finish,  want  of  polish  ;  the  great  mighty  oak,  the  everlasting 
Bashan  ;  not  the  cabinet-makers'  pretty  and  expensive  fabrication. 

Now  I  will  come  to  the  final  point,  and  it  shall  be  of  the  utmost 
severity  in  its  relation  to  this  argument.  The  question  I  put  is 
this  :  Did  this  Man  Christ  Jesus  live  up  io  his  own  principles  r*  I 
can  imagine  persons  of  a  certain  kind  of  mind  suggesting  that  the 
speeches  and  parables,  and  conversations  generally  of  Jesus  Christ, 
conveyed  very  high  theories,  very  sublime  philosophies  of  things, 
but  were  too  romantic  to  be  embodied  in  actual  behaviour.  The 
question  I  press  upon  you  is  this,  so  far  as  the  evidence  in  the 
Book  goes,  Did  this  Man  Christ  Jesus  embody  his  own  doctrine  ? 
What  said  he  ?  "  Bless  them  that  persecute  you. "  Did  he  do  it? 
Let  one  of  his  disciples  answer.  "  When  he  was  reviled,  he 
reviled  not  again  ;  when  he  suffered,  he  threatened  not. "  What 
said  he  ?  "  Pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute 
you."  Did  he  do  it  ?  One  of  his  historians  says  that  in  his  last 
agony  he  prayed,  when  he  had  no  hand  to  stretch  out  upward  to 
his  God,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  Is  this  to  go  for  nothing?  Are  we  at  liberty  to  dismiss 
this  witness  and  say  he  does  not  know  of  that  which  he  testifies, 
or  that  which  he  affirms  ?  Be  careful,  for  if  you  cannot  confer  a 
character  you  have  no  right  to  take  one  away. 

I  call  you  to  this  living  Christ  ;  I  will  try  to  go  nearer  to  him 
than  ever  I  have  been  before  ;  I  will  call  for  him  to  come  nearer 
to  me,  and  I  will  press  still  nearer.  He  knows  me,  he  speaks  to 
me,  there  is  a  masonry  between  us  for  which  you  have  no  word  or 
symbol  :  a  grip  of  the  hand  he  only  can  give,  a  symbol  that  hath 
morning  in  it,  and  hope  and  immortality,  secret  messages,  trans- 
missions in  cipher  which  he  makes  the  devil  himself  bring.     Can 


330  JOHN   VIII.  42. 

I  give  him  up  ?  Can  I  sell  him  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  ?  Can 
I  exchange  him  for  some  other  master  ?  Oh,  then  the  sun  would 
bring  no  morning  with  it,  mid-day  would  be  but  a  great  black 
cloud,  and  the  summer  a  mocking  promise  without  an  answer. 
To  whom,  then,  could  I  tell  my  sin  ;  to  whom  could  1  pray  my 
prayers  ;  to  whom  could  I  empty  my  heart  in  darkness  and  in 
close  and  absolute  solitude,  after  I  have  looked  all  round  the 
horizon  to  see  even  if  an  angel  be  there  to  watch  the  secret  inter- 
view ?  Nay,  I  must  serve  him  still,  preach  him  still,  and  if  he  say 
to  me,  "  Wilt  thou  go  away?"  I  will  answer  in  words  I  cannot 
amend,  ' '  To  whom  can  I  go  ?  Thou  only  hast  the  words  of 
Eternal  Life  !" 


PRAYER. 

O  that  this  day  we  might  see  the  Lord  and  have  our  whole  mind  filled 
with  his  light  and  joy  !  Lord,  dost  thou  ask  us  what  we  would  have  at 
thine  hands  ?  Our  answer  is,  Lord,  that  we  might  receive  our  sight ! 
When  men  cry  unto  the  Lord  in  their  trouble,  thou  dost  deliver  them  out 
of  their  distresses  ;  in  this  hope  we  come  now  before  the  Lord,  and  even 
whilst  we  speak  our  hearts  feel  the  burden  rising.  Sweet  is  the  day  of 
the  Lord,  quiet  and  tender  in  its  sacred  peacefulness,  opening  into  the 
very  heavens  and  showing  us  the  New  Jerusalem  as  the  city  in  which  we 
shall  no  more  be  threatened  by  fear  and  humbled  by  weariness.  For 
every  blessing  we  offer  thee  our  praise.  Thou  didst  lead  us  through  the 
solitary  way,  and  thou  hast  spared  us  from  the  shadow  of  death.  Our 
souls  are  thine  ,  our  bodies  are  thy  habitation.  Thou  are  mindful  of  us 
with  great  care,  and  thy  banner  over  us  is  love.  O  that  we  knew  how  to 
praise  thee  aright,  that  our  hearts  might  not  suffer  pain  because  of  the 
weariness  of  our  worship.  Thy  judgments  are  very  terrible,  but  thy 
mercies  are  greater  still.  Our  life  is  full  of  the  mercy  of  the  Lord,  and 
our  days  are  made  bright  by  his  goodness.  Lord,  let  not  our  feet  stray 
from  the  path  of  thy  will.  Lord,  comfort  us,  encourage  our  souls  in  the 
day  of  fear,  and  let  our  weakness  hide  itself  in  thy  great  power.  We  lay 
down  our  own  wisdom  as  ignorance,  and  run  away  from  our  towers  as 
from  defences  that  will  crush  the  life  that  built  them.  We  come  to  Jesus. 
We  stand  beside  the  Saviour.  We  know  the  power  of  his  blood.  Lord, 
help  us.  Lord,  send  upon  us  the  blessing  of  thine  infinite  pardon.  Lord, 
show  us  the  light  of  thy  face.  We  daily  see  how  great  a  gift  is  life  ;  we 
know  it  not,  we  have  not  seen  the  divine  secret,  we  feel  the  pulse  beat, 
but  we  see  not  the  power  by  which  it  is  moved.  We  are  our  own 
mysteries.  Life  itself  is  a  religion.  Life  is  a  continual  prayer.  How 
weak  we  are,  yet  how  strong  !  We  cannot  just  now  bear  the  full  daylight, 
yet  we  shall  pass  the  sun  on  our  upward  way  to  the  glory  to  come,  and  his 
great  lustre  shall  be  as  a  spark  vanishing  in  the  ever-enlarging  vastness 
of  thy  universe.  When  we  think  thus  of  thy  kingdom  our  light  affliction 
is  but  for  a  moment.  Thy  kingdom,  Lord,  how  great,  how  bright,  how 
strong  !  May  we  one  and  all  have  a  place  in  that  everlasting  house. 
Thy  mercy  is  greater  than  our  prayer,  and  therefore  do  we  hope  even 
where  we  cannot  reason.  Send  the  gospel  to  our  lost  ones,  and  bring  our 
wanderers  home.  Visit  our  sick  chambers  and  whisper  to  our  sick  ones 
the  messages  of    consolation,   so  that  their  very    weakness  may  itself 


332  JOHN   VI.  35. 

become  a  privilege,  and  their  loneliness  become  the  sanctuary  within 
which  thou  wilt  meet  them.  We  put  our  own  life  into  thy  keeping.  We 
lay  aside  our  own  poor  help  as  a  temptation,  and  we  accept  thy  strength 
as  our  perfect  ability.  O  thou  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
when  shall  we  be  wholly  swallowed  up  in  thy  great  love  !  When  will  the 
devil  leave  us,  and  none  but  holy  angels  be  at  hand  !  How  long  the 
tempter  tarries  !  He  wears  out  our  strength  ;  he  lures  our  fancy  ;  he 
vexes  our  prayers  ;  he  tortures  our  very  communion  with  thyself.  Jesus 
of  the  wilderness,  Jesus  of  Calvary,  help  us  or  the  enemy  will  prevail. 
He  is  so  strong,  so  swift,  so  wise  ;  yet  we  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  which  strengtheneth  us,  therefore  do  we  piay — Jesus,  save  us,  or 
we  perish  1    Amen. 


BREAD  AND  WATER. 

"  I  am  the  bread  ...  I  am  the  water." — John  vi.  35,  etc. 

THE  subject  is  clearly,  Bread  and  Water.  You  call  these 
common  things,  and  my  object  will  be  to  show  that  their 
commonness  is  not  a  defect,  but  an  excellence  ;  that  their  very 
excellence  has  occasioned  their  commonness  ;  and  that  their  com- 
monness corresponds  to  a  common  want  in  the  constitution  of 
mankind.  I  will  take  the  simple  idea  of  bread  and  water,  and 
apply  it  socially  in  the  first  place  and  trace  it  upward  to  its  highest 
and  divinest  meaning. 

Let  us  look  in  upon  the  greatest  feast  ever  spread  for  the  refresh- 
ment and  delight  of  kings.  All  delicacies  shall  be  there  that  can 
be  found  in  wood  and  air  and  sea  :  the  richest  wines  shall  sparkle 
and  foam  and  glow  upon  the  sumptuous  board  ;  and  the  fragrances 
arising  from  this  luxurious  feast  shall  excite  and  regale  the  appetite 
of  hungry  men.  Now  what  have  we  there  ?  What  is  the  funda- 
mental idea  ?  What  is  the  nucleus  of  the  abounding  and  tempt- 
ing feast  ?  Surprising  as  it  may  seem,  the  whole  thing  is  but  an 
adaptation  of  bread  and  water  !  It  is  bread  and  water  decorated  ; 
bread  and  water  more  or  less  adulterated  ;  bread  and  water  sup- 
posed to  be  at  their  best  as  to  refinement,  and  richness,  and  power 
of  gastronomic  temptation  and  satisfaction.  And  if  you  could 
follow  the  sated  guests  into  their  privacy  you  would  hear  them  say, 
in  effect,  "  All  this  fine  living  is  well  enough  now  and  then,  but 
only  now  and  then,  after  all ;  let  us  have  something  plain  and 
substantial, "  in  a  word,  let  them  have  bread  and  water.     What  is 


THE  CONTINUANCE  OF  NECESSARIES.  333 

this  prodigious  art  of  the  high  cook  ?  He  is  bound,  like  other 
popular  slaves,  to  produce  something  fresh  ;  without  novelty  he 
sinks  into  a  common  baker  ;  a  new  relish  may  mean  a  new  for- 
tune ;  a  new  gravy  may  give  him  a  country  house  and  a  footman  ; 
a  new  adaptation  of  an  omelette  may  enable  him  to  start  a  shoot- 
ing box,  — but  it  is  bread  and  water  that  he  works  upon  ;  bread 
and  water  are  the  basis  of  his  fortune  ;  he  lives  by  mystifying  the 
public,  and  mightily  laughs  at  the  trick  by  which  he  has  made 
men  think  that  bread  crumbs  have  some  connection  with  far-off 
spice  groves  and  Ceylon  breezes.  Offer  your  guests  plain  bread 
and  water,  and  they  will  not  often  call  your  way  ;  but  dress  up  the 
bread  and  water,  torture  them,  colour  them,  spice  them,  and  they 
will  praise  the  delicacy  and  excellence  of  the  viands.  But  bread 
and  water  survive  !  These  are  the  things  that  cannot  be  shaken. 
Empires  of  soups  and  entrees,  wines  and  liqueurs,  rise  and  fall, 
but  the  steady  old  friends  bread  and  water  remain  as  the  unadorned 
and  ever  wholesome  gifts  of  God,  Ay,  poor  cook,  clever 
trickster,  half  a  creator,  under  all  thy  enchantments  and  wizardries 
there  are  the  plain  bread  and  water  ;  disguise  them,  bribe  them, 
paint  them,  and  wreathe  around  them  all  manner  of  cunning 
ornamentation,  they  are  but  bread  and  water  ;  the  image  and  the 
superscription  are  the  cook's,  but  the  bread  and  water  themselves 
are  God's  !  Name  the  dishes  that  delighted  Babylonian  gluttons, 
and  rehearse  the  menu  which  made  the  Egyptian  gourmands 
smack  their  sensual  lips  ;  you  cannot ;  these  are  forgotten 
delights,  paste-boards  that  perished  in  the  fire  ;  but  bread  and 
water  come  steadily  along  the  ages,  over  the  graves  of  empires  and 
the  ashes  of  royalty,  having  escaped  the  tortures  of  the  crudest 
cooks  and  shown  themselves  to  be  the  primary  and  necessary  gifts 
of  God. 

Well,  the  application  of  this  is  obvious  in  higher  spheres  of  life, 
such,  for  example,  as  the  culture  and  satisfaction  of  the  intellect. 
Reading  and  writing  are  the  bread  and  water  of  the  mind.  Give 
a  child  the  power  of  reading  and  writing  and  let  him  do  the  rest 
for  himself ;  it  is  worth  doing  (at  least  some  of  it),  and  let  him 
find  it  out  and  he  will  value  it  the  more.  Your  duty  is  done  in 
giving  the  reading  and  the  writing,  the  intellectual  bread  and 
water.  But  fine  cookery  is  imitated  in  fine  intelligence  and  with 
like  results  in  some  cases,    namely  mental  indigestion  and  ill- 


334  JOHN   VI  35. 

health.  Hence,  we  have  imperfect  French,  caricatured  German, 
and  murdered  music,  and  the  native  tongue  and  the  native  history 
are  passed  by  as  quite  secondary  if  not  beneath  contempt.  It  is 
better  to  chatter  French  in  a  way  which  nobody  can  understand 
than  to  speak  good  plain  exact  English,  is  it  not  ?  We  must  be 
fine  at  all  costs.  We  must  have  a  few  knick-knacks  on  the 
mantelpiece,  even  if  we  have  not  a  bed  to  sleep  on.  We  must 
be  able  to  say,  Parlez-vous  Fran$aise  even  if  we  cannot  pay  our 
debts.  When  will  people  learn  to  prize  bread  and  water  ?  When 
will  they  see  that  it  is  better  to  know  a  little  well,  than  to  know 
next  to  nothing  about  a  good  deal  ?  O  when  ?  This  is  not  a 
little  matter,  it  is  a  matter  of  great  importance,  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  an  index  of  character.  I  do  not  laugh  at  a  man  whose  learn- 
ing ends  at  the  multiplication  table,  but  I  may  laugh  with  grim 
amusement  at  a  man  who  speaks  hotel  French  and  then  spells 
October  with  an  h.  Give  your  children  intellectual  bread  and 
water  without  grudging,  that  is  to  say,  give  them  a  thorough 
grounding  in  the  beginnings  and  elements  of  knowledge,  and  let 
them  do  the  rest  for  themselves. 

These  illustrations  prepare  the  way  for  the  highest  truth  of  all, 
namely,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  bread  and  water  without  which  we 
cannot  live.  He  never  says  he  is  a  high  delicacy,  a  rare  luxury,  a 
feast  which  the  rich  alone  can  afford  ;  he  says  that  he  is  bread  and 
water,  he  likens  himself  not  to  the  luxuries  but  to  the  necessaries 
of  life,  and  in  so  doing  he  shows  a  wisdom,  a  reach  of  mind,  a 
grasp  of  human  nature,  which  should  save  him  from  the  attacks 
of  malignant  men.  An  adventurer  would  not  have  seen  in 
metaphors  so  humble  a  philosophy  so  profound.  Adventurers 
like  big  words  and  glaring  figures  ;  they  speak  great  swelling 
words  of  vanity  ;  they  search  heaven  and  earth  for  effective  figures  ; 
they  disdain  the  sling  and  the  stone.  Not  so  with  Jesus  Christ ; 
he  is  Bread,  he  is  Water,  he  is  Light,  he  is  the  Door,  he  is  the 
Shepherd,  and  these  words,  so  simple,  stretch  their  meaning 
around  the  whole  circle  of  human  life,  and  by  their  choice  alone 
is  the  supreme  wisdom  of  Jesus  Christ  abundantly  attested. 

Let  us  go  further  into  this  matter  by  a  little  detailed  inquiry  and 
illustration. 

I.  Man  needs  Jesus  Christ  as  a  necessity  and  not  as  a  luxury. 
You  may  be  pleased  to  have  flowers,   but  you  must  have  bread. 


THINGS  ESSENTIAL.  335 

Christ  presents  himself  as  exactly  fulfilling  this  analogy.  Our 
whole  life  is  based  on  one  or  two  simple  but  necessary  lines  ;  we 
must  have  food,  we  must  have  shelter,  we  must  have  security.  But 
into  how  many  glorifications  have  all  these  simple  necessaries 
passed  !  We  have  just  spoken  about  food.  Now  look  at  shelter, 
how  styles  of  architecture  have  grown  out  of  that  idea  !  We  talk 
of  Doric,  and  Grecian,  and  Gothic  ;  of  Norman  arches  and  Corin- 
thian capitals  ;  and  indeed  we  have  a  long  and  perplexing  nomen- 
clature, all  coming  out  of  the  fact  that  man  must  have  a  place  to 
go  into  when  the  weather  is  rough  and  when  sleep  is  needed. 
Out  of  the  need  of  shelter  has  come  the  science  or  art  of  architect- 
ure !  Is  this  wrong  ?  Most  certainly  not.  It  is  a  trait  of  civil- 
isation. It  is  a  sign  of  refinement  and  progress.  But  let  an 
architect  of  high  fancy  be  called  in  to  build  you  a  house,  he  gives 
you  a  fine  elevation,  a  noble  porch,  a  splendid  dome  ;  but  in  the 
fever  of  his  fancy  he  has  forgotten  the  foundations,  overlooked 
the  drainage,  omitted  the  joists,  and  made  no  provision  for  the 
escape  of  the  smoke.  How  then  ?  Of  what  avail  is  it  that  there 
is  much  elaboration  of  cunning  masonry  on  the  front  of  the 
house  ?  You  could  have  done  without  the  stone  faces  above  the 
mullions,  but  you  cannot  do  without  the  chimneys  and  the  joists. 
It  is  exactly  after  the  bearing  of  this  analogy  that  Jesus  Christ  has 
often  been  presented  in  preaching  and  in  books.  He  has  been 
offered  as  an  ornament  merely.  He  has  been  preached  as  the 
most  curious,  and  entertaining  of  all  riddles.  He  has  been  treated 
as  the  successor  of  Plato,  or  Solon,  or  Seneca.  In  this  way, 
generally  indeed  intended  to  be  respectful,  the  whole  purpose  of 
his  coming  into  the  world  has  been  overlooked.  He  has  not  been 
presented  as  bread  and  water,  or  the  very  first  and  most  indispen- 
sable necessity  of  life  ;  he  has  been  treated  as  a  phenomenon  ; 
cabineted  as  a  rarity  in  human  history  ;  labelled  as  a  remarkable 
specimen  ;  and  in  this  way  even  some  of  his  admirers  have  igno- 
rantly  betrayed  and  dishonoured  the  Lord.  Jesus  is  not  a  phe- 
nomenon, he  is  bread  :  Christ  is  not  a  curiosity,  he  is  water.  As 
surely  as  we  cannot  live  without  bread  we  cannot  live  truly  without 
Christ ;  if  we  know  not  Christ  we  are  not  living,  our  movement  is 
a  mechanical  flutter,  our  pulse  is  but  the  stirring  of  an  animal  life. 
It  is  in  this  way,  then,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  preached.  It  is 
even  so  I  would  preach  him  now.     I  would  call  him  the  water  of 


336  JOHN   VI.  35. 

life  ;  I  would  speak  of  him  as  the  true  bread  sent  down  from 
heaven  ;  I  would  tell  men  that  it  is  impossible  to  live  without 
him  ;  I  would  say,  with  heightening  passion,  with  glowing  and 
ineffable  love,  that  he  only,  even  the  holy  Christ  of  God,  can 
satisfy  the  hunger  and  the  thirst  of  the  soul  of  man.  In  this  way 
I  claim  a  distinct  vocation  as  a  preacher.  I  am  not  one  amongst 
many  who  try  to  do  the  world  good  ;  as  a  Christian  preacher,  or 
a  preacher  of  Christ,  I  offer  the  only  thing  that  can  vitally  and 
sufficiently  touch  the  world's  condition,  and  thus  the  position  of 
the  Christian  preacher  is  absolutely  without  similitude  or  parallel, 
in  that  the  choice  he  offers  is  life  or  death,  salvation  or  ruin, 
heaven  or  hell. 

2.  What  has  been  the  effect  of  omitting  to  declare  Christ  simply 
as  bread  and  water  ?  Leaving  the  simplicity  of  Christ  we  have 
elaborated  theological  sciences,  established  and  promulgated  with 
solemn  sanctions  the  most  intricate  creeds  ;  we  have  worked  out  a 
very  high  and  cunning  symbolism  ;  we  have  filled  the  church  with 
incense,  with  garments  of  many  colours  and  many  significances, 
ceremony  after  ceremony  we  have  contrived  ;  we  have  called 
councils,  synods,  and  congresses  ;  we  have  constituted  splendid 
hierarchies,  with  mitres  and  crooks,  and  clothing  precious  with 
gold  and  glaring  with  ardent  colour.  All  this  have  we  done,  O 
Son  of  God,  though  thou  didst  call  thyself  bread  and  water  !  We 
have  gathered  around  thee  liturgies  and  suffrages  and  gowns  and 
bands  and  surplices  and  chants  and  censers  and  albs  and  stoles  and 
chasubles,  though  thou  didst  call  thyself  Bread  and  Water  !  We 
have  drawn  a  long  and  often  mutinous  procession  of  reverends  and 
most  reverends  and  right  reverends  and  very  reverends,  and  doctors 
and  deans  and  eminences  and  holinessesand  suffragans  and  novices 
and  licentiates,  though  thou  didst  call  thyself  bread  and  water  ! 
Horrible,  indeed,  and  quite  infinite  is  the  contemptibleness  of  all 
this,  and  shall  I  not  even  say  the  sin  ?  Suppose  some  inquiring 
stranger  looking  on  and  asking,  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  I 
should  answer,  not  without  sharpness  and  indignation,  It  means 
that  man  is  a  fool,  and  that  he  prefers  vanity  to  truth.  This  is 
not  the  Saviour.  This  is  not  the  way  to  God.  This  is  not  the 
door  of  heaven.  This  is  incubus  and  rubbish  and  abomination. 
Christ  is  bread  ;  Christ  is  water  ;  Christ  is  the  one  answer  to  thy 
difficulties,  the  one  healer  of  thy  wounds,  the  one  Saviour  of  thy 


WHAT  RATIONAL   CRITICISM  LEAVES.  337 

soul.  Oh,  but  the  curse  of  this  mischief  is  terrible  to  contem- 
plate !  Poor  souls  are  left  to  believe  that  they  can  only  get  to 
Christ  by  seeing  ministers  and  priests  and  bishops,  by  learning 
catechisms,  by  swallowing  dogmas  they  neither  understand  nor 
appreciate,  and  by  listening  to  the  mumbling  and  muttering  of 
certain  ecclesiastical  men  in  livery.  Oh  the  horribleness  !  Oh 
the  blasphemy  !  Is  not  the  devil  laughing  the  while  and  filling 
his  cruel  hand  with  additional  prey  ?  My  friend,  man  eager  to 
know  the  truth,  Christ  is  bread  ;  Christ  is  water  ;  he  is  nigh  thee  ; 
take  the  pure  Bible  and  read  it  for  thyself,  read  it  in  solitude,  read 
it  with  earnest  desire  to  know  its  living  claim  upon  thyself,  and 
thou  shalt  see  the  Lord,  and  feel  the  Cross,  and  eat  the  heavenly 
bread. 

3.  History  furnishes  a  most  graphic  confirmation  of  these  views. 
John  Stuart  Mill  says,  "  Let  rational  criticism  take  from  us  what 
it  may,  it  still  leaves  us  the  Christ."  Exactly  so  ;  it  still  leaves 
us  the  bread  and  water  !  It  still  leaves  us  all  we  want.  It  takes 
away  all  human  conceits  and  decorations,  and  it  leaves  the  living 
bread.  It  mortifies  the  theological  cook  and  confectioner,  it 
humbles  the  decorator  of  tables,  but  it  leaves  the  living  water  I 
Theological  revolutions  have  come  and  theological  revolutions 
have  gone  ;  timid  souls  have  trembled  as  if  the  sanctuary  had  been 
destroyed,  but  when  the  noise  has  passed  and  the  cloud  has  rolled 
off,  behold  the  bread  and  water  remain,  and  Welcome  is  written 
on  the  tables  of  the  Lord  !  Men  cannot  get  rid  of  Christ  simply 
because  they  cannot  get  rid  of  themselves.  Marvellous  is  it  to 
watch  how  the  Lord  allows  the  chaff  to  blow  away,  but  saves  every 
grain  of  the  precious  wheat ;  and  quite  marvellous,  too,  is  it  to 
see  how  some  nervous  people  think  that  the  wheat  is  lost  because 
the  chaff  has  been  scattered  by  the  wind.  The  Lord  will  lose 
nothing.  Society  revolutionises  itself,  but  society  still  lives. 
Theologies,  eastern  and  western,  wear  themselves  out,  but  the 
bread  and  water  are  still  there,  incorruptible  and  unlimited.  Do 
we  fear  the  dissolution  of  the  earth  because  an  owl's  nest  has 
fallen  ?  Will  the  sun  not  rise  to-morrow  because  a  candle  has 
been  blown  out  ?  Bethink  thee,  faithless  soul,  they  are  but  acci- 
dents that  change,  the  essentials  abide, 

"  Unhurt  amid  the  war  of  elements, 
The  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crash  of  worlds." 


338  JOHN   VI.  35- 

I  fancy  we  should  change  our  standpoint  in  viewing  all  the 
revolutions  and  disasters  that  occurred  within  the  limits  of  Chris- 
tendom. Hitherto  we  have  thought  of  them  as  the  results  of 
intellectual  pride  or  spiritual  insubordination.  We  have  mourned 
over  men  as  fallen  creatures  because  they  have  risen  against  the 
systems  in  which  they  were  reared.  But  possibly  we  are  wrong. 
It  may  be  Christ  himself  who  is  at  work.  He  is  the  great  Revolu- 
tionist. This  may  be  Christ' s  own  way  of  clearing  off  the  rubbish 
which  has  been  piled  upon  his  holy  name.  Christ  pulls  down 
papacies  and  hierarchies  and  rituals,  that  he  may  show  that  these 
are  not  needful,  that  all  human  contrivances  are  departures  from 
his  Divine  simplicity,  and  that  he  wishes  to  be  known  through  all 
ages  and  amongst  all  men  as  the  Bread  and  Water  of  human  souls. 
He  knows  that  our  temptation  is  to  make  more  of  externals  than 
of  realities,  hence  he  turns  his  providence  against  us,  hurls  down 
our  cathedrals  and  temples  and  ministers,  and  says  he  will  be 
known  only  as  Bread  and  Water,  not  as  a  compound  of  coloured 
and  poisonous  confection.  O  the  deceitfulness  of  the  human 
heart  in  this  matter  of  serving  Christ !  We  tell  lies  to  ourselves 
about  it.  We  talk  about  enriching  our  services,  ennobling  our 
architecture,  educating  our  ministers,  creating  universities,  found- 
ing endowments,  originating  retreats  of  elegant  leisure  for  the 
production  of  technical  literature.  Rubbish,  all  of  it  !  Christ 
asks  nothing  of  the  kind  at  our  hands.  He  prefers  his  own  Spirit 
to  our  culture.  "It  is  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  my 
Spirit,"  saith  the  Lord.  "  Bring  no  more  vain  oblations  ;  incense 
is  an  abomination  unto  me  ;  the  new  moons  and  sabbaths,  the 
calling  of  assemblies,  I  cannot  away  with  ;  it  is  iniquity  even  the 
solemn  meeting."  What,  then,  are  we  to  do?  "Wash  you, 
make  you  clean,  put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before 
mine  eyes  ;  cease  to  do  evil,  learn  to  do  well  ;  seek  judgment, 
relieve  the  oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow." 
Thus  we  are  driven  back  to  simplicity  ;  our  "  culture"  is  thrown 
down  and  dashed  to  pieces  as  a  potter's  vessel,  and  nothing  stands 
but  the  bread  and  the  water,  the  first  verities,  the  essential  graces, 
of  the  Lord's  Christ. 

I  care  not  how  rich  our  music,  how  noble  our  architecture,  how 
imposing  our  method  of  worship,  if  all  this  be  kept  strictly  in  its 
proper  place.     I  love  beauty  ;  I  am  moved  to  passion  and  heroism 


MISCALLED   CULTURE.  339 

by  inspiring  music  ;  I  would  make  the  Lord's  house  glad  with 
every  expression  of  love  ;  but  this  done,  I  would  write  on  the 
doorposts,  on  the  roof,  and  on  every  panel,  the  words  of  Jesus  : 
"  In  this  place  is  one  greater  than  the  temple."  I  prefer  knowl- 
edge to  ignorance,  but  I  prefer  holiness  to  either.  Culture,  when 
not  a  chattering  and  fussy  prig,  may  be  right  noble  and  even 
majestic  ;  but  nothing  is  so  cold  as  culture,  and  nothing  so  mean, 
when  not  inflamed  and  impassioned  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  To- 
day the  pulpit  is  in  danger  of  being  killed  by  miscalled  culture. 
Men  think  that  because  they  have  been  to  college  five  years  they 
ought  to  be  preachers,  which  is  as  logical  as  to  say  that  a  man  who 
has  driven  an  omnibus  five  years  ought  to  be  able  to  take  a  ship 
across  the  Atlantic.  The  Lord  continually  dashes  these  culture- 
pots  to  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel,  by  making  preachers  of  his 
own,  and  clothing  them  with  mysterious  but  most  beneficent 
power. 

We  must  go  back  to  bread  and  water  Our  dainties  must  be 
given  up.  Our  habits  are  too  luxurious  ;  we  are  killing  our 
souls  with  sweet  poisons ;  we  are,  by  our  fabrications  and 
masonries  and  fine  fancies,  exalting  ourselves  above  the  Lord  ;  so 
I  would  call  myself  back  to  the  simplicity  of  Christ,  and  find  all  I 
want  in  his  grace  and  truth. 


PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  we  have  come  up  out  of  the  world  into  the  church,  a 
holy  and  chosen  place,  to  make  mention  of  thy  goodness,  to  recall  thy 
mercies,  to  meditate  upon  thy  word  and  to  have  our  spiritual  strength 
renewed.  We  have  also  come  up  to  the  Cross  that  we  may  have  our 
sins  taken  away,  not  by  ministry  of  man,  nor  by  ceremonial  of  church, 
but  by  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  Lamb  slain  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world.  We  bless  thee  that  the  Cross  is  more  than  our  guilt — 
that  the  blood  of  Christ  abounds  where  our  sin  abounded  once,  and  that 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Son  of  Man,  the  King,  is  able  to  destroy 
our  sin  and  to  cause  it  to  be  remembered  no  more  for  ever.  We  love  the 
Saviour — we  love  him  most  when  our  torment  is  intolerable  :  it  is  then 
we  see  what  he  really  did  as  the  atonement  and  the  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  the  world.  We  love  his  words — we  love  the  tones  of  his  voice, 
we  love  the  smiling  of  his  gentle  face  :  but  oh  what  words  can  tell  the 
depth  and  passion  of  our  love  when  we  see  our  sin  as  it  really  is,  and  we 
feel  our  helplessness,  and  then  behold  the  outstretched  Priest,  the  dying 
Sacrifice.  It  is  then  our  hope  returns,  and  then  doth  our  heart  glow  with 
fire  from  Heaven. 

We  rejoice  that  we  care  for  thy  word  and  for  thy  worship  :  this  feeling 
elevates  our  whole  nature,  brings  up  our  entire  strength  to  its  finest 
energy,  and  enables  us  with  triumph,  with  holy  scorn,  to  stand  above  the 
temptations  and  the  lures  of  this  world  and  all  that  is  lowest  in  our  own 
life,  and  to  seize  the  enjoyments  and  securities  of  heaven.  Thy  word 
clears  the  future — it  levels  the  hill  that  keeps  away  from  our  vision  the 
delights  and  the  beauties  of  the  Coming  Land.  It  levels  up  the  deep 
places  and  overbridges  the  yawning  chasms  and  gulfs,  that  we  may  reach 
towards  the  heavenly  and  eternal.  Lord,  evermore  show  us  the  meaning 
of  thy  word — may  it  be  to  us  a  word  of  ever-enlarging  significance.  We 
can  never  fully  realise  all  its  purpose — its  sacredness  will  be  an  eternal 
mystery  ;  still  may  we  be  drawn  forward  by  that  great,  kind,  loving  word 
to  some  deeper  knowledge  and  some  higher  excellence. 

We  are  tired  of  ourselves — the  world  is  a  weariness  to  us — its  prizes  are 
deceits,  its  delights  are  mockeries  :  it  draws  us  forward  by  many  a  fasci- 
nation only  that  it  may  sting  us  with  many  a  disappointment.  Behold 
the  earth  under  our  feet  is  hollow  as  a  tomb  that  is  waiting  to  enclose  the 
living.  There  is  nothing  true  but  God  :  there  is  nothing  lasting  but  thy 
light— there  is  nothing  sufficient  but  thy  grace.  Thou  hast  placed  us  in 
this  world  of  beginnings  and  shadows  and  alphabets — forbid  that  we 


PR  A  YER.  341 

should  regard  it  as  the  only  world  ;  help  us  to  look  upon  it  as  a  porch  to 
the  universe,  the  opening  of  the  infinite  spaces  and  liberties  of  thy  king- 
dom. And  thus  seizing  the  present,  we  shall  hold  it  with  a  light  hand, 
and  reserve  our  veneration  and  our  loyalty  for  things  eternal  and  com- 
plete. 

We  desire  as  heads  of  houses  to  bless  thee  :  bread  has  been  upon  our 
table  and  our  cup  has  overrun.  Thou  hast  defended  our  habitations, 
thou  hast  been  merciful  to  every  member  of  the  household  ;  the  master 
and  the  servant  bless  thee,  the  old  man  and  his  grandchild  thank  the 
same  God.  Receive  therefore  our  homage  as  heads  of  houses,  members 
of  families,  fathers,  mothers,  children,  servants — may  we  unite  in  singing 
high  psalms,  may  our  hearts  find  an  outgoing  in  the  same  hallowed  sup- 
plication. Wherein  we  have  suffered,  help  us  to  see  the  Lord's  hand  in 
it  :  suffer  us  not  to  look  upon  our  disappointments  as  complete  in  them- 
selves :  may  we  look  upon  life  as  a  whole,  see  the  relation  of  its  various 
parts,  feel  that  no  one  member  of  it  is  complete  in  itself — may  we 
measure  all  things  by  the  eternal,  may  we  desire  the  decisions  and  judg- 
ments of  God,  and  not  the  conclusions  of  our  own  false  understanding. 
Help  us  in  all  things  to  resign  our  life,  our  will,  our  work  into  thy  hands, 
thou  King  of  kings,  thou  Lord  of  lords. 

Whether  our  days  be  few  or  many  we  cannot  tell — we  would  not  know. 
The  Son  of  Man  must  come  when  he  pleases,  not  when  we  desire  :  may 
we  be  ready  for  his  coming  with  welcomes,  with  the  entire  hospitality  and 
bounding  delights  and  desires  of  our  expectant  souls,  so  that  he  may  have 
a  full  incoming  into  the  habitations  of  our  hearts.  We  put  all  our  con- 
cerns into  thine  hands — the  letter  difficult  to  answer,  the  appeal  for  which 
we  have  no  present  response,  the  sorrow  for  which  we  have  not  yet 
found  a  balm,  the  tears  that  scald  us  in  their  running,  the  -life  that  is 
ebbing  away,  the  business  that  seems  to  be  receding  from  us  notwith- 
standing our  patience  and  industry — we  put  our  whole  case  into  thine 
hands,  saying,  "  Undertake  for  us,  lead  us  as  thou  wilt." 

Now  let  us  continue  thy  praise  with  increasing  delight,  search  into  the 
mysteries  of  thy  word  as  men  search  in  fields  in  which  pearls  are  hidden, 
in  which  silver  is  to  be  found, — and  thus  may  the  morning  worship  and 
meditation  make  us  strong  for  the  contests  and  the  endurances  of  the 
coming  week.     Amen. 

THE  PRECIOUS  BLOOD  OF  CHRIST. 

"  The  precious  blood  of  Christ." — 1  Peter  i.  19. 

MY  heart's  desire,  ever  since  I  became  a  preacher  of  the 
Holy  Word,  has  been  to  make  known  to  men  that  there 
is  no  salvation  but  by  blood,  and  not  by  blood  only,  but  by  the 
particular  blood  named  in  the  text — even  the  precious  blood  o£ 


342  i  PETER   I.  19. 

Christ.  I  am  afraid  that  in  these  latter  days  some  of  us  have  tried 
to  find  out  some  other  word  to  use  instead  of  this  word  blood. 
We  shrink  from  it.  A  dainty  piety  has  forced  upon  us  a  dainty 
vocabulary.  As  the  intensity  of  our  love  has  gone  down,  the 
intensity  of  our  speech  has  gone  down  along  with  it.  We  speak 
of  the  life  of  Christ  and  the  love  of  Christ,  but  we  too  seldom  speak 
of  the  precious  blood 'of  Christ ;  that  would  seem  to  our  frigid  piety 
to  be  an  exaggeration,  and  our  frigid  piety  is  encouraged  by  our 
deceitful  fancy,  that  tells  us  that  love  is  a  larger  term  than  blood, 
and  should  always  be  used  instead  of  it.  Beware  of  the  tempta- 
tions of  a  worldly  fancy.  If  your  piety  become  the  creature  or  the 
plaything  of  your  imagination,  you  will  commit  the  keeping  of 
your  soul  to  the  most  capricious  and  the  most  irresponsible  of  all 
powers.  We  need  some  term  that  lies  away  infinitely  beyond  the 
airy  and  cloudy  region  of  fancy  ;  a  broad  and  emphatic  word — a 
word  that  carries  its  own  single  and  definite  meaning  so  plainly 
that  mistake  is  impossible,  and  that  sacred  and  inviolable  term  is 
blood.  The  world  over,  that  word  has  but  one  meaning.  Even 
the  word  love  may  be  tortured  into  ambiguity  by  men  skilful  in 
definition,  but  the  word  blood  is  too  simple,  too  energetic,  too 
solemn,  to  take  upon  it  the  faintest  gloss  of  the  most  reluctant 
expositor.  It  is  blood  ;  it  is  precious  blood  •  it  is  the  blood  of 
Christ ;  it  is  the  blood  that  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;  and  to  attemper 
its  passion  by  the  use  of  supposed  equivalents,  is  to  trifle  with  the 
supreme  purpose  of  God  in  seeking  the  salvation  of  mankind.  In 
a  case  like  this-,  even  reverent  paraphrase  is  in  danger  of  becoming 
almost  profane.  What  other  word  can  take  the  place  of  the  word 
blood  ?  Even  love  itself  is  a  word  with  many  aliases,  or  a  word 
which  admits  of  many  changes  and  partial  substitutes  :  it  is  regard, 
it  is  affection,  it  is  sympathy,  it  is  forbearance,  it  is  friendship,  it  is 
trust — but  how  will  you  replace  the  word  blood  P  It  stands  alone. 
It  will  not  clothe  itself  in  the  disguises  of  various  terms.  Its 
unquenchable  ardour  burns  through  the  snow  which  you  scatter 
upon  its  summit.  No  winter  can  loiter  upon  those  ardent  slopes. 
If  you  mean  to  tax  your  fancy  for  the  production  of  equal  terms, 
you  must  go  elsewhere,  for  the  term  blood  can  accept  no  humilia- 
tion and  pander  to  no  disguise. 

1.   We  are  sometimes  asked  to  admit  that  it  cannot  be  what  is 
called  real,  literal,  or  merely  physical  blood.     Why  should  it  not 


INNER  MEANINGS.  343 

be  real  blood,  the  actual  blood  of  the  actual  body  ?  Let  us  take 
care  lest  our  vulgar  conceptions  deprive  us  of  gracious  meanings 
and  privileges.  It  mav  be  our  notion  that  is  at  fault,  and  not  the 
Word  of  God.  The  reference  is  unquestionably  to  the  real  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ,  "  who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body 
on  the  tree."  Who  shall  say  that  his  bodily  blood  was  limited, 
and  could  therefore  have  but  limited  application  ?  Verily  herein 
we  are  straitened,  not  in  Christ,  but  in  ourselves  ;  yes,  even  in  the 
very  imagination  which  is  supposed  to  create  for  itself  such  wide 
liberty  !  If  the  people  could  find  no  limit  in  the  handful  of  bread 
with  which  Christ  satisfied  the  throng,  as  the  poor  woman  could 
find  no  limit  to  the  oil  blessed  by  the  prophet,  who  shall  take 
upon  him  to  say  that  it  was  a  shallow  and  measurable  stream  that 
flowed  from  the  heart  of  Christ  ?  Did  he  not  work  miracles  upon 
his  own  body  ?  Did  he  not  conceal  it  ?  Did  he  not  cause  it  to 
pass  untouched  and  unhurt  through  the  angry  host  upon  the  hill  ? 
Did  he  not  keep  it  from  sinking  in  the  sea  ?  And  can  he  not 
crown  these  wonders  by  giving  us  his  blood  to  drink?  "  How 
can  this  man  give  us  his  blood  to  drink  ?"  We  never  could  tell 
how  Christ  did  his  mighty  works,  but,  praised  be  his  sweet  and 
tender  name,  dear  Jesus,  Heart  of  God,  he  did  them,  and  therein 
is  our  joy  satisfied  !  Oh,  my  brethren,  to  me  the  controversy  is 
mean  which  contends  that  Christ  does  not  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat 
and  his  blood  to  drink,  in  the  sacred  ordinance  of  the  Supper. 
He  who  maintains  the  contrary  can  make  the  vulgar  stare  by  his 
tricks  in  the  use  of  words,  and  can  impale  on  harmless  horns  the 
argument  which  he  opposes,  but  he  has  never  plumbed  the  depths 
of  Christ's  power,  he  has  never  known  what  alone  can  appease  the 
heart's  violence  of  grief,  nor  has  he  entered  into  the  holiest  of  all, 
wherein  the  corruptible  letter  clothes  itself  with  the  incorruptible 
spirit.  When  my  heart  is  stung  to  death  by  its  own  remorse  on 
account  of  sin,  when  hell  is  moved  from  beneath  to  receive  me  as 
fit  only  for  its  devouring  flames,  I  am  in  no  mood  to  be  satisfied 
with  types  and  symbols  ;  a  real  want  demands  a  real  remedy,  a  real 
sinner  calls  for  a  real  Saviour,  and  real  sin  can  be  met  only  by  real 
blood  :  in  that  infinite  distress  you  must  not  meet  me  with 
etymologies  and  verbal  dexterities,  you  must  let  the  tormented 
soul  have  free  access  to  the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  I  know  well 
that  the  literalist  can  vex  me  with  truisms,  and  confound  my  poor 


344  i  PETER  I.  19. 

learning  by  his  brilliant  ignorance  ;  he  can  tauntingly  ask  me, 
How  can  this  man  give  you  his  blood  to  drink  ?  and  I  have  no 
answer  in  words  ;  he  entangles  me  in  the  thicket  of  his  alphabet 
and  holds  me  as  his  prey,  but  deep  down  in  the  contrite  heart,  in 
the  solemn  sanctuaries  never  defiled  by  common  speech,  I  know 
that  Christ's  word  is  better  than  man's,  when  he  says,  "  Except 
ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have 
no  life  in  you."  If  you  ask  me  whether  a  morsel  of  sacramental 
bread  is  the  actual  body  of  Christ,  my  senses  combine  in  a  unani- 
mous protest  against  an  absurdity  so  manifest ;  but  in  this  holy 
exercise  I  do  not  walk  by  sight,  but  by  faith  ;  my  senses  have  slain 
me  aforetime,  so  that  I  cannot  allow  them  to  usurp  a  function 
they  have  so  disastrously  abused  ;  I  will  not  allow  them  to  speak 
in  this  sanctuary  ;  they  can  but  degrade  its  sacredness  ;  they 
have  been  liars  from  the  beginning,  and  in  all  heavenly  mysteries 
they  are  liars  still, — I  will  listen  only  to  the  voice  of  the  dying, 
mighty,  holy,  infinite  Saviour — "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life  ;  for  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed, 
and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed  ;  he  that  eateth  my  flesh  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  dwelleth  in  me  and  I  in  him." 

By  no  priestly  incantation  is  common  bread  transformed  into 
the  body  of  Christ.  1  know  nothing  of  sacerdotal  magic.  My 
soul  resents  with  horror  too  solemn  to  be  merely  contemptuous 
the  suggestion  that  priestly  wizardry  is  needful  to  my  participation 
in  the  blood  of  Christ.  But  this  is  my  faith,  the  faith  that  brings 
things  of  heaven  near,  the  faith  that  consecrates  the  very  dust  of 
earth,  that  if  in  the  burning  agony  of  my  contrition,  shame,  and 
helplessness  I  put  forth  a  trembling  hand,  and  seize  the  common 
bread  which  makes  the  body  live,  and  eat  it  for  love  of  Christ,  it 
will  be  to  me  the  very  flesh  of  the  Son  of  God,  a  real  appropriation, 
a  holy  sacrament,  foolishness  to  the  cold  low  world,  but  wisdom 
divine  and  comfort  infinite  to  the  hungering  and  dying  heart.  I 
will  then  know,  not  by  some  intellectual  feat,  the  deep  meaning 
of  Christ's  words  :  "  This  is  the  bread  which  cometh  down  from 
heaven,  that  a  man  may  eat  thereof  and  not  die.  I  am  the  living 
bread  which  cometh  down  from  heaven  ;  if  a  man  eat  of  this 
bread  he  shall  live  for  ever  :  and  the  bread  that  I  will  give  is  my 
flesh,  which  I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world." 

2.   We  need  what  is  truly  called  a  realising  faith  as  well  as  a 


CONSCIOUS   OF  SIN.  345 

spiritualising  power.  We  are  sometimes  under  the  spell  of  two 
voices,  and  hardly  know  to  which  to  yield.  The  one  voice  says, 
Spiritualise  everything  ;  clothe  the  stones  of  the  field  with  mystic 
meanings  ;  fill  the  winds  with  voices  from  worlds  unknown  ;  and 
turn  the  stars  into  eyes  of  holy  watchers  not  yet  named  of  man. 
The  other  voice  says,  Beware  of  making  the  simple  mysterious  ; 
avoid  the  attenuation  which  destroys  solid  meanings  ;  take  the 
very  first  signification  that  occurs  to  the  earnest  mind,  and  suspect 
all  explanations  that  are  far  to  seek.  These  contrary  voices  make 
themselves  distinctly  heard  in  the  interpretation  of  this  text  :  the 
one  voice  exhorts  us  to  escape  the  narrowness  of  a  literal  meaning, 
and  the  other  exhorts  us  not  to  lose  the  real  and  the  true  in  some 
vain  search  for  the  speculative  and  the  doubtful.  A  realising  faith 
does  not  make  things  less,  it  makes  them  more  vivid,  it  sets  them 
before  the  eyes  with  true  naturalness,  and  constrains  their  hidden 
meaning  into  bold  and  noble  expression.  I  would,  then,  pray  to 
have  a  realising  faith  when  I  think  of  the  blood  of  Christ  ;  the  life- 
blood  ;  the  blood  that  cleanses  from  all  sin  ;  the  blood  of  sprink- 
ling ;  the  blood  of  atonement ;  the  blood  of  the  everlasting 
covenant.  I  would  see  it  as  blood.  The  grossness  is  not  in  the 
blood,  it  is  in  myself.  The  blood  is  holy.  Is  there  aught  in  the 
great  universe  so  holy  as  the  blood  of  Christ  ?  But  we  cannot 
realise  the  blood  until  we  have  realised  the  sin.  Where  there  is 
no  conviction  of  sin — conviction  amounting  to  the  very  anguish 
of  the  lost  in  hell — there  can  be  no  felt  need  of  so  extreme  a 
remedy  as  is  offered  by  the  outpouring  of  the  blood  of  Christ.  A 
self-palliating  iniquity  may  be  cleansed  by  water.  The  light 
dust  which  bespots  the  outer  garment  may  be  removed  by  gentle 
means.  When  a  man  feels  that  he  has  not  sinned  deeply  he  is  in 
no  mood  to  receive  what  he  considers  the  tragic  appeals  of  the 
gospel  ;  they  exceed  the  case  ;  they  destroy  themselves  by  exag- 
geration ;  they  speak  with  self-defeating  violence.  But  let  another 
kind  of  action  be  set  up  in  the  heart ;  let  the  man  be  brought  to 
talk  thus  with  himself — "  I  have  sinned  until  my  very  soul  is 
thrust  down  into  hell  ;  my  sins  have  clouded  out  the  mercy  of 
God,  so  that  I  see  it  no  longer  ;  I  have  wounded  the  Almighty,  I 
have  cut  myself  off  from  the  fountain  of  life,  I  have  blown  out 
every  light  that  was  meant  to  help  me  upward,  I  am  undone,  lost, 
damned," — and  then,  he  needs  no  painted  cross,  no  typical  sacra- 


346  i  PETER   I.  19. 

ment,  no  ceremonial  attitude,  no  priestly  enchantment,  he  can  be 
met  by  nothing  but  the  sacrificial  blood,  the  personal  blood,  the 
living  blood,  the  precious  blood  of  Christ. 

How  far  it  is  possible  to  sustain  in  constant  experience  those 
keen  and  vivid  realisations  of  the  blood  of  Christ  is  known  to  us 
all.  Considering  the  infirmities  of  the  flesh,  the  deceitfulness  of 
the  world,  the  subtle  and  persistent  temptations  of  the  enemy,  the 
continual  vexations,  anxieties,  frets,  and  chafings  of  a  life  that  is 
one  daily  struggle,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  we  could  not 
bear  the  incessant  realisation  of  all  that  is  suggested  by  the  expres- 
sion "  the  blood  of  Christ."  But  if  this  is  our  weakness,  and  it 
surely  is,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  strengthening  might  that  is 
stored  up  for  us  in  Christ  ?  We  can  do  all  things  through  Christ 
which  strengtheneth  us  !  For  observe,  that  though  the  painful 
sacrifice  of  Christ  makes  an  unendurable  strain  upon  our  feelings 
at  one  period  of  our  spiritual  history,  it  becomes  to  us  the  ten- 
derest  solace,  the  richest  grace,  the  sweetest  reflection,  and  the 
serenest  rest,  as  we  advance  in  our  holy  course.  No  longer  are 
our  sensibilities  torn  by  it.  No  more  do  we  see  the  wild  but 
passing  cruelty  of  man  ;  the  crucifixion  becomes  an  Atonement, 
and  then  on  the  divine  side  we  see  the  pity,  the  righteousness, 
the  wisdom,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  then  can  we  say — 

"  For  ever  here  my  rest  shall  be 
Close  to  his  bleeding  side, 
This  all  my  hope  and  all  my  plea, 
For  me  the  Saviour  died." 

3.  The  practical  effects  of  realising  all  that  is  meant  by  "  the 
blood  of  Christ"  are  most  useful.  The  text  ceases  to  be  a  mere 
expression,  and  becomes  a  most  solemn  and  all-determining  fact. 
It  becomes  indeed  the  regulative  power  of  our  whole  life.  See, 
for  example,  how  it  reduces  us  to  a  state  of  most  utter  and  abject 
helplessness  in  the  matter  of  self-salvation  !  If  we  could  be  saved 
by  the  shedding  of  blood  only,  how  could  we  save  ourselves  ?  If 
Christ  had  saved  us  by  some  lower  method,  we  might  have  been 
tempted  to  think  that  our  redemption  lay  within  our  own  power. 
But  when  it  required  the  outpouring  of  every  drop  of  blood  that 
was  in  the  fountain  of  his  great  heart,  either  he  made  a  fatal  mis- 
take in  his  method  or  we  make  a  fatal  mistake  in  supposing  that 
we  could  have  redeemed  ourselves.     Immediately  following  this 


THE  EVER-FLOWING  BLOOD.  347 

reflection  is  the  thought  that  if  so  much  was  done  for  us,  what  is 
there  that  we  can  do  in  return  ?     ' '  How  much  owest  thou  my 

Lord?" 

"  Love  so  amazing,  so  divine, 
Demands  my  soul,  my  life,  my  all." 

We  are  not  our  own  ;  we  are  bought  with  a  price  ;  therefore  we 
are  to  glorify  God  in  our  bodies  and  in  our  spirits,  which  are 
God's.  "  I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of 
God  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable 
unto  God,  which  is  your  reasonable  service."  My  soul,  canst 
thou  reckon  a  debt  so  immense  ?  Hast  thou  a  pen  that  can  be 
dipped  in  a  sea  of  ink  and  a  hand  that  can  wield  it  until  the  day 
of  death,  that  the  sum  may  be  set  down  in  the  face  of  heaven  ? 
My  tongue  refuses  the  intolerable  burden  of  complete  acknowledg- 
ment. My  age  would  wither  away  before  the  growing  tale  was 
well  begun.  I  owe  all  to  Christ.  There  is  nothing  mine  but  my 
hateful  sin.  He  found  me  ;  he  loosed  my  bonds  ;  he  paid  my 
debt ;  he  sounded  the  depths  of  all  my  woe  ;  he  ransomed  me 
with  blood  !  "I  will  offer  to  him  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving, 
and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. ' '  How  poor  my  best  return  ! 
How  mean  my  gifts  !  How  weak  my  service  !  But  as  he  met 
me  in  the  helplessness  of  my  sin,  so  will  he  meet  me  in  the 
imperfection  of  my  work.  He  will  make  it  worthy  with  his  own 
merit  ;  he  will  complete  it  by  his  own  might  ;  he  will  sanctify  it 
by  his  own  holiness.  The  blood  of  Christ  !  It  did  not  flow  on 
one  day,  it  flows  evermore  !  My  soul,  is  thine  but  a  geographical 
Calvary  ;  or  is  it  a  Golgotha  of  the  spirit,  the  place  where  thy 
church  is  founded  and  where  thy  heaven  begins  ?  Have  we  out- 
lived the  efficacy  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  is  the  tale  of  his 
Cross  a  sound  from  which  all  the  music  has  gone  for  ever  ?  We 
need  the  sun  to-day  as  we  have  ever  needed  it ;  the  wind  is  still 
the  breath  of  health  to  our  dying  bodies  ;  still  we  find  in  the  earth 
the  bread  without  which  we  cannot  live  ;  these  are  our  friends  of 
whom  we  never  tire  ;  can  it  be  that  the  only  thing  of  which  we  are 
weary  is  God's  answer  to  our  soul's  deepest  need?  Shall  we 
keep  everything  but  the  blood  of  Christ  ?  Shall  the  Cross  go,  and 
the  sun  be  left  ?  Verily,  as  the  sun  withdrew  at  sight  of  that 
Cross  and  for  the  moment  fled  away,  he  would  shine  never  more 
were  that  sacred  tree  hewn  down  by  furious  Man.     The  blood  of 


348  i  PETER  I.  19. 

Christ  is  the  fountain  of  immortality  !  The  blood  of  Christ, — it 
makes  the  soul's  summer  warm  and  beauteous  !  The  blood  of 
Christ,  it  binds  all  heaven,  with  its  many  mansions  and  throngs 
without  number,  in  holy  and  indissoluble  security  !  My  soul, 
seek  no  other  stream  in  which  to  drown  thy  leprosy.  My  lips, 
seek  no  other  song  with  which  to  charge  your  music.  My  hands, 
seek  no  other  task  with  which  to  prove  your  energy.  I  would  be 
swallowed  up  in  Christ.  I  would  be  nailed  to  his  Cross.  I 
would  be  baptized  with  his  baptism.  I  would  quail  under  the 
agony  of  his  pain  that  I  might  triumph  with  him  in  the  glory  of 
his  resurrection.  O  my  Jesus  !  My  Saviour  !  Thine  heart  did 
burst  for  me,  and  all  its  sacred  blood  flowed  for  the  cleansing  of 
my  sin.  I  need  it  all.  I  need  it  every  day.  I  need  it  more  and 
more.  O  search  out  the  inmost  recesses  of  my  poor  wild  heart, 
and  let  thy  blood  remove  every  stain  of  evil. 

"  E'er  since  by  faith  I  saw  the  stream 
Thy  flowing  wounds  supply, 
Redeeming  love  has  been  my  theme, 
And  shall  be  till  I  die." 

Mighty  Saviour  !    repeat  all  thy  miracles  by  taking  away  the 
guilt  and  torment  of  my  infinite  sin  ! 


JUDAS  ISCARIOT:  A  STUDY  OF  CHARACTER. 

IT  will  help  me  very  greatly  in  my  delicate  work  of  examining 
the  character  of  the  betrayer  of  our  Lord,  if  there  be  an 
understanding  between  us,  that  it  is  not  presumptuously  supposed 
on  either  side  that  every  difficulty  can  be  explained,  and  that 
perfect  unanimity  can  be  secured  on  every  point ;  and  especially 
if  it  be  further  understood  that  my  object  is  not  to  set  up  or  defend 
any  theory  about  Judas  Iscariot,  but  solemnly  to  inquire  whether 
his  character  was  so  absolutely  unlike  everything  we  know  of 
human  nature  as  to  give  us  no  help  in  the  deeper  understanding 
of  our  own  ;  or  whether  there  was  not  even  in  Judas  something 
that,  at  its  very  worst,  was  only  an  exaggeration  of  elements 
or  forces  that  may  possibly  be  in  every  one  of  us.  We  always 
think  of  him  as  a  monster  ;  but  what  if  we  ourselves  be — at  least 
in  possibility — as  monstrous  and  as  vile  ?  Let  us  go  carefully 
through  his  history,  and  see.  My  purpose  is  to  cut  a  path  as 
straight  as  I  may  be  able  to  go,  through  the  entangled  and  thorny 
jungle  of  texts  which  make  up  the  history  of  Iscariot.  I  propose 
to  stop  here  and  there  on  the  road,  that  we  may  get  new  views 
and  breathe  perhaps  an  uncongenial  air  ;  and  though  we  may 
differ  somewhat  as  to  the  distance  and  form  of  passing  objects,  1 
am  quite  sure  that  when  we  get  out  again  into  the  common  high- 
ways we  shall  resume  our  unanimity,  and  find  it  none  the  less 
entire  and  cordial  because  of  what  we  have  seen  on  the  unaccus- 
tomed and  perilous  way.  First  of  all,  then,  let  us  try  to  get  a 
clear  knowledge  of  the  character  of  Judas  Iscariot,  the  disciple, 
and  apostle,  and  betrayer,  of  the  Son  of  God. 

I.   Expository. 

"  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve,   and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?" 
(John  vi.  70). — Who,   then,   will  say  that  the  men  with  whom 


350  JOHN   VI.  70. 

Christ  began  his  new  kingdom  were  more  than  men,  — not  bone  of 
our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  but  a  princely  sort,  specially 
created  and  quite  away  from  the  common  herd  in  sympathy  and 
aim  ?  He  chose  twelve  men  who  fairly  represented  human  nature 
in  its  best  and  worst  aspects, — they  represented  gentleness,  ardour, 
domesticity,  enterprise,  timidity,  courage,  —  and  one  of  them  is  a 
devil.  Not  a  devil  in  the  sense  of  being  something  else  than 
human.  Judas  was  a  man  like  the  others,  but  in  him  there  was 
a  pre-eminent  capacity  for  plotting  and  attempting  the  foulest 
mischief.  We  are  certainly  not  to  understand  that  our  Lord  chose 
twelve  men  who,  with  one  exception,  were  converted,  intelligent, 
sanctified,  and  perfect ;  nor  is  it  by  any  means  certain  that  our 
Lord  chose  even  the  most  intellectual  and  influential  men  that  it 
was  possible  for  him  to  draw  into  his  service.  I  do  not  know  that 
we  are  entitled  to  regard  the  Apostles  as  in  all  respects  the  twelve 
best  men  of  their  day  ;  but  I  think  we  may  justly  look  upon  them 
as  an  almost  complete  representation  of  all  sides  of  human  nature. 
And  as  such  they  utterly  destroy  the  theory  that  they  were  but  a 
coterie, — men  of  one  mean  stamp,  without  individuality,  force, 
emphasis,  or  self-assertion  ;  padding,  not  men  ;  mere  shadows  of 
a  crafty  empiric,  and  not  to  be  counted  as  men.  On  the  contrary, 
this  was  a  representative  discipleship  ;  we  were  all  in  that  elect 
band  ;  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  declared  in  Christ  Jesus,  would 
work  upon  each  according  to  his  own  nature,  and  would  reveal 
every  man  to  himself.  A  very  wonderful  and  instructive  thing  is 
this,  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  point  out  the  supremely  wicked 
man,  but  merely  said,  "  One  of  you  is  a  devil."  Thus  a  spirit 
of  self-suspicion  was  excited  in  the  whole  number,  culminating  in 
the  mournful  "  Is  it  I  ?"  of  the  last  Supper  ;  and  truly  it  is  better 
for  us  not  to  know  which  is  the  worst  man  in  the  church, — to 
know  only  that  judgment  will  begin  at  the  house  of  God,  and  to 
be  wondering  whether  that  judgment  will  take  most  effect  upon 
ourselves.  No  man  fully  knows  hi?nself.  Jesus  Christ  would  seem 
to  be  saying  to  us — At  this  moment  you  appear  to  be  a  child 
of  God  :  you  are  reverent,  charitable,  well-disposed  ;  you  have  a 
place  in  my  visible  kingdom, — even  a  prominent  place  in  the 
pulpit,  on  the  platform,  at  the  desk,  in  the  office  ;  appearances 
are  wholly  and  strongly  in  your  favour,  yet,  little  as  you  suspect 
it,  deep  under  all  these  things  lies  an  undiscovered  self- — a  very 


THE  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  CHOICE.  351 


devil,  it  may  be  ;  so  that  evenyou,  now  loud  in  your  loyalty  and 
zealous  beyond  all  others  in  pompous  diligence,  may  in  the  long 
run  turn  round  upon  your  Lord  and  thrust  a  spear  into  his  heart ! 
— Can  it  be  that  the  foremost  sometimes  stumble  ?  Do  the  strong 
cedars  fall  ?  May  the  very  star  of  the  morning  drop  from  the  gate 
of  heaven  ?  Let  the  veteran,  the  leader,  the  hoary  Nestor,  the 
soldier  valiant  beyond  all  others,  say,  "  Lord,  is  it  I?"  Which 
of  us  can  positively  separate  himself  from  Judas  Iscariot  and 
honestly  say — His  was  a  kind  of  human  nature  different  from 
mine  ?  I  dare  not  do  so.  In  the  betrayer  I  would  have  every 
man  see  a  possibility  of  himself, — himself,  it  may  be,  magnified  in 
hideous  and  revolting  exaggeration,  yet  part  of  the  same  earth 
heaved,  in  the  case  of  Judas,  into  a  great  hill  by  fierce  heat,  but  on 
exactly  the  same  plane  as  the  coldest  dust  that  lies  miles  below  its 
elevation.  Iscariot' s  was  a  human  sin  rather  than  a  merely  per- 
sonal crime.  Individually  I  did  not  sin  in  Eden,  but  humanly  I 
did  ;  personally  I  did  not  covenant  for  the  betrayal  of  my  Lord, 
but  morally  I  did, — I  denied  him,  and  betrayed  him,  and  spat 
upon  him,  and  pierced  him  ;  and  he  loved  me  and  gave  himself 
for  me  ! 

Of  course  the  question  will  arise,  Why  did  our  Lord  choose  a 
man  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  devil  ?  A  hard  question  ;  but  there 
is  a  harder  still — Why  did  Jesus  choose  you  P  Could  you  ever 
make  out  that  mystery  ?  Was  it  because  of  your  respectability  ? 
Was  it  because  of  the  desirableness  of  your  companionship  ?  Was 
it  because  of  the  utter  absence  of  all  devilishness  in  your  nature  ? 
What  if  Judas  did  for  you  what  you  were  only  too  timid  to  do  for 
yourself  ?  The  incarnation  with  a  view  to  human  redemption  is 
the  supreme  mystery  ;  in  comparison  with  that,  every  other  diffi- 
culty is  as  a  molehill  to  a  mountain.  In  your  heart  of  hearts  are 
you  saying,  "  If  this  man  were  a  prophet,  he  would  know  what 
manner  of  man  this  Judas  is,  for  he  is  a  sinner  ?"  O  thou  self- 
contented  Simon,  presently  the  Lord  will  have  somewhat  to  say 
unto  thee,  and  his  parable  will  smite  thee  like  a  sword. 

' '  The  Son  of  man  goeth  as  it  is  written  of  him  ;  but  woe  unto 
that  man  by  whom  he  is  betrayed. " — I  think  we  shall  miss  the 
true  meaning  and  pathos  of  this  passage  if  we  regard  it  merely  as 
the  exclamation  of  a  man  who  was  worsted  for  the  moment  by 


352  MATTHEW  XXVI.  24. 

superior  strength,  but  who  would  get  the  upper  hand  by-and-by, 
and  then  avenge  his  humiliation.  These  words  might  have  been 
uttered  with  tears  of  the  heart — Woe  will  be  the  portion  of  that 
man  who  betrays  me  ;  yea,  woe  upon  woe,  even  unto  remorse  and 
agony  and  death  ;  the  chief  of  sinners,  he  will  also  be  chief  of 
sufferers  ;  when  he  sees  the  full  meaning  of  what  he  has  done,  he 
will  sink  under  the  intolerable  shame,  he  will  give  blood  for  blood, 
and  be  glad  to  find  solace  in  death. 

And  if  our  hearts  be  moved  at  all  to  pitifulness  in  the  review  of 
this  case,  may  we  not  find  somewhat  of  a  redeeming  feature  in  the 
capacity  for  suffering  so  deep  and  terrible  ?  Shall  we  be  stretch- 
ing the  law  of  mercy  unduly  if  we  see  in  this  self-torment  a  faint 
light  on  the  skirts  of  an  appalling  cloud  ?  I  do  not  find  that 
Judas  professed  or  manifested  any  joy  in  his  grim  labour  ;  there 
is  no  sound  of  revel  or  mad  hilarity  in  all  the  tragic  movement  ; 
on  the  contrary,  there  is  a  significant  absence,  so  far  as  we  can 
judge  from  the  narrative,  of  all  the  excitement  needful  for  nerving 
the  mischievous  man  to  work  out  purposes  which  he  knows  to  be 
wholly  evil.  All  the  while,  Judas  would  seem  to  be  under  a 
cloud,  to  be  advancing  stealthily  rather  than  boisterously  ;  he  was 
no  excited  Belshazzar  whose  brain  was  aflame  with  excess  of  wine 
— though  he,  too,  trembled  as  if  the  mystic  hand  were  writing 
letters  of  doom  upon  the  old  familiar  scenes  :  so  excited  is  he  that 
a  word  will  send  him  reeling  backward  to  the  ground,  and  if  he 
do  not  his  work  "  quickly"  he  will  become  sick  with  fear  and  be 
incapable  of  action  ;  as  it  is,  he  has  only  bargained  to  "  kiss"  the 
Victim,  not  to  clutch  him  with  a  ruffian's  grasp.  Then  came 
the  intolerable  woe  ! 

This  great  law  is  at  work  upon  our  lives  to-day.  Woe  unto  the 
unfaithful  pastor  ;  woe  unto  the  negligent  steward  ;  woe  unto  the 
betrayer  of  sacred  interests  ;  woe  unto  them  that  call  evil  good 
and  good  evil  ; — to  all  such  be  woe  ;  not  only  the  woe  of  outward 
judgment — Divine  and  inexorable — but  that,  if  may  be,  still 
keener,  sadder  woe  of  self-contempt  and  self-damnation.  With 
such  sorrow  no  stranger  may  intermeddle.  The  lesson  to  ourselves 
would  seem  to  be  this — Do  not  regard  Divine  judgment  merely 
as  measure  for  measure  in  relation  to  your  sin, — that  is  to  say,  so 
much  penalty  for  so  much  guilt ;  it  is  more  than  that — it  is  a 
quickening  of  the  man  into  holy  resentment  against  himself,  an 


HEALTHY  PAIN   OF  CONTRITION.  353 

arming  of  the  conscience  against  the  whole  life,  a  subjective  contro- 
versy which  will  not  be  lulled  into  unrighteous  peace,  but  will  rage 
wrathfully  and  implacably  until  there  shall  come  repentance  unto 
life  or  remorse  unto  death.  Shall  I  startle  you  if  I  say  that  there 
is  a  still  more  terrible  state  than  that  of  such  anguish  as  Iscariot's  ? 
To  have  worn  out  the  moral  sense,  to  have  become  incapable  of 
pain,  to  have  the  conscience  seared  as  with  a  hot  iron,  to  be  "  past 
feeling," — that  is  the  consummation  of  wickedness.  That  there 
is  judicial  and  outward  infliction  of  pain  an  account  of  sin,  is  of 
course  undoubted  ;  but  whilst  that  outward  judgment  may 
actually  harden  the  sinner,  the  bitter  woe  which  comes  of  a  true 
estimate  of  sin  and  of  genuine  contrition  for  its  enormity  may 
work  out  a  repentance  not  to  be  repented  of.  If,  then,  any  man 
is  suffering  the  pain  of  just  self-condemnation  on  account  of  sin  ; 
if  any  man's  conscience  is  now  rising  mightily  against  him  and 
threatening  to  tear  him  in  pieces  before  the  Lord,  because  of  secret 
lapses  or  unholy  betrayals,  because  of  long-sustained  hypocrisy  or 
self-seeking  faithlessness,  I  will  not  hurriedly  seek  to  ease  the 
healthy  pain  ;  the  fire  will  work  to  his  purification,  and  the  Refiner 
will  lose  nothing  of  the  gold  ; — but  if  any  man,  how  eminent 
soever  in  ecclesiastical  position,  knows  that  he  has  betrayed  the 
Lord,  and  conceals  under  a  fair  exterior  all  that  Ezekiel  saw  in  the 
chamber  of  imagery,  and  is  as  a  brazen  wall  against  every  appeal — 
hard,  tearless,  impenetrable,  unresponsive — I  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  I  would  rather  be  numbered  with  Judas  than  with  that  man. 

"  It  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not  been  born."  — 
Then  why  was  he  born  ?  is  the  question,  not  of  impatient  igno- 
rance only,  but  of  a  certain  moral  instinct  which  God  never  fails  to 
respect  throughout  the  whole  of  His  intercourse  with  mankind, 
and  which  he  will  undoubtedly  honour  in  this  instance.  Take 
the  case  as  it  is  ordinarily  put  :  Judas,  like  the  rest  of  us,  had  no 
control  over  his  own  birth  ;  he  found  himself  in  a  world  in  whose 
formation  he  had  no  share  ;  he  was  born  under  circumstances 
which,  as  to  their  literal  and  local  bearing,  can  never  be  repeated 
in  all  the  ages  of  time.  So  far  as  we  can  gather  from  the  narrative, 
Jesus  spoke  to  him  no  word  of  sympathy,  never  drew  him  aside, 
as  he  drew  Peter,  to  tell  him  of  preventing  prayer,  but  to  all 
appearance  left  him  to  be  the  blind  and  helpless  instrument  of  the 


354  MATTHEW  XXVI.  24. 

devil,  and  then  said,  "  It  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had 
not  been  born."  This  cannot  be  the  full  meaning  of  the  words. 
Instantly  we  repeat  the  profound  inquiry  of  Abram,  "  Shall  not 
the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?"  He  may,  and  must,  tran- 
scend our  understanding  ;  he  will,  by  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
dazzle  and  confound  our  imagination  by  the  unsuspected  riches 
and  glory  of  his  many  mansions  ;  but  he  must  not  trouble  our 
sense  of  right  if  he  would  retain  our  homage  and  our  love.  Per- 
sonally, I  can  have  no  share  in  the  piety  that  can  see  any  man 
condemned  under  such  circumstances  as  have  just  been  described  ; 
it  is  not  enough  to  tell  me  that  it  is  some  other  man  and  not 
myself  who  suffers,  — a  suggestion  ineffably  mean  even  if  it  were 
true  ;  but  it  is  not  true  ;  I  do  suffer  :  a  tremendous  strain  is  put 
upon  my  sensibilities,  and  I  cannot,  without  anguish,  see  any  man 
arbitrarily  driven  into  hell.  Upon  his  face,  .writhing  in  unutter- 
able torture,  is  written  this  appeal,  "  Can  you  see  me,  bone  of  your 
bone  and  flesh  of  your  flesh,  thus  treated,  weighed  down,  crushed, 
damned,  by  a  power  I  am  utterly  unable  either  to  placate  or 
resist?"  That  man  maybe  my  own  father,  my  own  child,  my 
most  familiar  friend  ;  and  though  he  be  a  stranger,  of  name 
unknown,  he  has  at  all  events  the  claim  of  our  common 
humanity  upon  me.  I  have  purposely  put  the  case  in  this  strong 
way,  that  I  may  say  with  the  more  emphasis  that  I  see  no  such 
method  of  government  revealed  in  the  narrative  now  under  con- 
sideration. If  I  saw  anything  like  it  in  any  part  of  the  Word  of 
God,  I  should  say,  "  My  understanding  is  at  fault,  not  God's  jus- 
tice ;  from  what  I  know  of  his  method  within  the  scope  of  my 
own  life,  I  know  and  am  sure  that  righteousness  and  judgment 
are  the  habitation  of  his  throne,  and  that  his  mercy  endureth  for 
ever."  I  see  things  that  are  mysterious,  incomprehensible, 
baffling  ;  I  come  upon  scriptures  which  utterly  defy  all  scholars 
and  interpreters  ;  but  this  is  the  confidence  that  I  have — "  the  Judge 
of  all  the  earth  will  do  right."  As  to  the  particular  expression  in 
the  text,  two  things  may  be  said  :  first,  it  is  well  known  that  the 
Jews  were  in  the  habit  of  saying,  "  It  had  been  good  for  that  man 
had  he  not  been  born," — it  was  a  common  expression  of  the  day, 
in  speaking  of  transgressors,  and  did  not  by  any  means  imply  a 
belief  in  the  final  destruction  or  damnation  of  the  person  spoken 
of  ;  and  .secondly,  this  passage  has  again  and  again  exactly  expressed 


THE  ACCEPTANCE   OF  INTENTION.  355 

our  awn  feeling  in  many  crises  of  our  own  life  :  it  must  be  for  ever 
true  that  non-existence  is  better  than  sinfulness.  When  the  lie 
was  on  our  lips,  when  part  of  the  price  was  laid  down  as  the 
whole,  when  we  dishonoured  the  vow  we  made  in  secret  with 
God,  when  we  rolled  iniquity  under  our  tongue  as  a  sweet  morsel, 
■ — at  that  time  it  had  been  good  for  us  if  we  had  not  been  born. 
Such,  indeed,  is  the  only  form  of  words  equal  to  the  gravity  of  the 
occasion  ; — better  we  say,  again  and  again,  not  to  have  been  born 
than  to  have  done  this  ;  if  this  be  the  end  of  our  being,  then  has 
our  life  been  a  great  failure  and  a  mortal  pain.  I  hold  that 
these  words  were  spoken  not  so  much  of  Judas  the  man  as  of 
Judas  the  sinner,  and  that  consequently  they  apply  to  all  evil-doers 
throughout  all  generations,  and  are  in  reality  the  most  tender  and 
pathetic  admonition  which  even  Christ  could  address  to  the  slaves 
of  sin. 

We  may  get  some  light  upon  this  expression  by  considering  the 
fact  that  "  it  repented  the  Lord  that  He  had  made  man."  In 
studying  all  such  passages  we  must  have  regard  to  the  order  of 
time.  St.  Paul  said,  "If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope,  we  are 
of  all  men  most  miserable  ;" — so,  if  we  break  off  our  own  life  at 
certain  points,  we  shall  say  the  same  thing  of  ourselves  ;  and  if  we 
interrupt  human  history,  so  that  one  fact  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
explain  another,  it  would  be  easy  to  find  sections  which  would 
prove  alike  the  disorder  and  malignity  of  the  Divine  government. 
We  know  what  this  means  in  some  of  the  works  of  our  own  hands. 
Thus,  for  example  :  You  undertook  to  build  a  house  for  the  Lord, 
and  your  heart  was  full  of  joy  as  you  saw  the  sacred  walls  rising  in 
your  hopeful  dreams  ;  but  when  you  came  to  work  out  your  pur- 
pose, you  came  upon  difficulty  after  difficulty, — promises  were 
broken,  contracts  were  trifled  with,  the  very  stars  in  their  courses 
seemed  to  fight  against  you,  and  at  length,  after  many  disappoint- 
ments and  exasperations,  you  said,  "  It  repents  me  ;  it  gives  me 
pain,  it  grieves  me,  that  I  began  this  house."  Such  is  the  exact 
state  of  your  feeling  at  that  particular  moment.  But  other  influ- 
ences were  brought  to  bear  upon  the  situation,  resources  equal  to 
the  difficulty  were  developed,  and  when  the  roof  covered  the  walls, 
and  the  spire  shot  up  into  the  clouds,  you  forgot  your  pains  and 
tears  in  a  great  satisfaction.  You  will  say  that  God  foresaw  all  the 
difficulty  of  rebuilding  the  living  temple  of  manhood,   that  the 


356  JOHN  XII  6. 

whole  case  was  clearly  before  him  from  eternity  ;  that  is,  of  course 
true  ;  but  the  pain  of  ingratitude  is  none  the  less  keen  because  the 
ingratitude  itself  was  foreknown.  Take  the  case  of  Jesus  Christ, 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  as  an  illustration  ;  he  foresaw  all  the 
triumphs  of  his  cross — all  heaven  thronged  with  innumerable 
multitudes  out  of  every  kindred  and  people  and  tongue — yet  he 
prayed  that  the  cup  might  pass  from  him,  and  he  needed  an  angel 
to  help  him  in  the  time  of  his  soul's  sorrow.  In  magnifying  God's 
omniscience  we  must  not  overlook  God's  love  ;  nothing,  indeed, 
could  surprise  his  foreknowledge,  yet  it  grieved  him  at  the  heart 
that  he  had  made  man  ;  and  he  called  upon  the  heavens  to  hear, 
and  upon  the  earth  to  be  astonished,  because  his  children  had  re- 
belled against  him  ! 

"  This  he  said,  not  that  he  cared  for  the  poor,  but  because  he 
was  a  thief,  and  had  the  bag,  and  bare  what  was  put  therein." — 
It  is  more  to  the  credit  of  the  Apostles  themselves  that  this  should 
be  regarded  as  an  after-thought  than  as  an  undoubted  conviction, 
or  an  established  fact,  at  the  time  that  Judas  sat  with  them  at  the 
Paschal  Supper,  or  even  at  the  time  that  he  asked  why  the  oint- 
ment was  not  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  This  is  the  more 
evident  from  the  fact  that  the  writer  indicates  Judas  as  the  betrayer, 
whereas  at  the  moment  of  the  test  his  identity  was  not  established. 
There  is  no  mystery  about  the  insertion  of  this  explanatory  sugges- 
tion, for  we  all  know  how  easy  it  is  after  a  character  has  fully 
revealed  itself  to  go  back  upon  its  separate  acts  and  account  for 
them  by  their  proper  motives — motives  unknown  at  the  time  of 
the  action,  but  plainly  proved  by  subsequent  revelations  of  charac- 
ter. This  was  probably  the  case  in  the  instance  before  us  :  else 
why  did  the  disciples  allow  Judas  to  keep  the  bag  ?  Why  did  they 
not  humble  and  exhaust  him  by  an  incessant  protest  against  his 
dishonesty  ?  And  why  did  not  our  Lord,  instead  of  mildly 
expostulating,  say  to  Judas  as  he  once  said  to  Peter,  "  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan?"  Here,  then,  is  a  great  law  within  whose 
operation  we  ourselves  may  be  brought, — the  law  of  reading  the 
part  in  the  light  of  the  whole,  and  of  judging  the  isolated  act  by 
the  standard  of  the  complete  character.  Illustrations  of  the  work- 
ing of  this  law  will  occur  to  you  instantly.  Let  a  man  eventually 
reveal  himself  as  having  unworthily  filled  prominent  positions  in 


AFTER-EXPLANATIONS.  357 

the  Church — let  his  character  be  proved  to  have  been  corrupt,  and 
then  see  what  light  is  thrown  upon  words  and  deeds  which  at  the 
time  were  not  fully  understood.  How  abundant  then  will  be  such 
expressions  as  these  in  recounting  his  utterances  : — 

"  He  advised  prudence  and  care  and  very  great  caution  in  work- 
ing out  Church  plans  ;  he  counselled  concentration  ;  he  depre- 
cated romantic  schemes  :  this  he  did  (as  we  now  can  see),  not  that 
he  was  a  lover  of  Prudence  or  a  worshipper  of  Wisdom,  but  be- 
cause he  was  a  thief,  and  he  feared  that  bold  and  noble  schemes 
would  shame  him  into  reluctant  generosity." 

"  He  urged  that  the  church  should  be  built  with  the  least 
possible  decoration  or  ornament ;  he  spoke  strongly  against 
coloured  glass  and  elaborate  enrichment  :  and  this  he  did  (as  we 
can  now  see),  not  that  he  was  devoted  to  Simplicity  or  absorbed 
in  spiritual  aspiration,  but  because  he  was  a  thief,  and  feared  that 
every  block  of  polished  marble  would  increase  the  sum  which  his 
respectability  would  be  expected  to  subscribe. 

"  He  denounced  all  heretical  tendencies  in  the  Christian  minis- 
try ;  he  knew  heterodoxy  afar  off ;  he  never  ceased  to  declare 
himself  in  favour  of  what  he  supposed  to  be  the  Puritan  theology  : 
and  this  he  did,  not  that  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  cared  for  the 
conservation  of  orthodoxy,  but  because  he  was  a  thief,  and  had  a 
felonious  intent  upon  the  reputation  of  independent  thinkers  whose 
shoe's  lachet  he  was  not  worthy  to  unloose." 

All  this  comes  out  offer  a  man  has  revealed  himself  as  Judas 
did.  But  let  me  also  say  that  the  "  thief  "  may  be  dictating  our 
speech  even  when  we  least  suspect  it,  certainly  where  there  may 
never  be  such  a  disclosure  as  there  was  in  the  case  of  Judas. 
There  are  conditions  under  which  we  hardly  know  what  influence 
it  is  that  colours  our  judgment  and  suggests  our  course, — may  it 
not  be  the  "thief"  thus  underlies  our  consciousness,  and  so 
cunningly  touches  our  life  as  never  to  excite  our  suspicion  or  our 
fear  ?  We  know  how  subtle  are  the  workings  of  self-deception, 
and  perhaps  even  the  godliest  of  us  would  be  surprised  to  know 
exactly  the  inspiration  of  some  of  our  most  fervent  speeches, — 
surprised  to  find  that  though  the  outward  orator  seemed  to  be  an 
earnest  man,  the  inner  and  invisible  speaker  is  the  "  thief"  that 
prompted  Judas  !     Who,  then,  can  stand  before  the  Lord,  or  be 


358  MATTHEW  XXVI.  14,   15. 

easy  in  the  presence  of  his  holy  law  ?  It  is  under  such  inquiries 
that  the  strongest  man  quails,  and  that  the  swiftest  of  God's 
messengers  humbly  prays,  "  Enter  not  into  judgment  with  thy 
servant,  O  Lord  ;  for  in  thy  sight  shall  no  flesh  living  be  justified." 

' '  Then  one  of  the  twelve,  called  Judas  Iscariot,  went  unto  the 
chief  priests,  and  said  unto  them,  What  will  ye  give  me,  and  I 
will  deliver  him  unto  you  ?"  (Matt.  xxvi.  14,  15).  Why  should 
there  have  been  any  bargaining  or  why  should  these  have  been 
any  difficulty  about  the  arrest  of  Christ  ?  We  must  look  to  an 
earlier  verse  for  the  solution.  The  chief  priests,  the  scribes,  and 
the  elders,  had  met  for  consultation  in  the  palace  of  the  high 
priest,  Caiaphas,  and  the  principal  question  was,  not  how  they 
might  take  Jesus,  but  how  they  might  take  him  "  by  subtilty," 
by  craft,  deceit,  guile,  as  if  they  would  have  secretly  murdered 
him  if  they  could, — murdered  him  in  the  darkness,  and  in  the 
morning  have  wiped  their  mouths  as  innocent  men  !  Judas 
would  appear  to  have  gone  to  them  secretly,  and  offered  himself  as 
one  who  knew  the  haunts  and  times  and  methods  of  Christ ;  and 
in  doing  so  he  showed  the  weak  and  vicious  side  of  his  nature, 
his  covetousness,  his  greed,  his  love  of  money, — and  herein  his 
guilt  seems  to  culminate  in  an  aggravation  infernal  and  unpardon- 
able. But  are  we  ourselves  verily  clear  in  this  matter  ?  Are  we 
not  every  day  selling  Christ  to  the  highest  bidder  ?  When  we 
stifle  our  convictions  lest  we  should  lose  a  morsel  of  bread  ;  when 
we  are  dumb  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy  lest  our  words  should 
be  followed  by  loss  of  domestic  comfort  or  personal  honour  ;  when 
we  soften  our  speech,  or  hide  the  Cross,  or  join  in  ungodly 
laughter  that  we  may  avoid  an  ungodly  sneer,  we  are  doing  our 
own  way  the  very  thing  which  we  rightly  condemn  in  the  character 
of  Judas. 

"  Then  Judas  which  had  betrayed  him,  when  he_saw  that  he 
was  condemned,  repented  himself,  and  brought  again  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  saying,  I  have  sinned 
in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood  :  and  he  cast  down  the 
silver  pieces  in  the  temple,  and  departed,  and  went  and  hanged 
himself"  (Matt,  xxvii.  3-5).  Is  there  not  a  tone  in  these  words 
with  which  we  are  familiar  ?     Is  there  not,  indeed,  something  of 


SPIRITUAL  PENETRATION.  359 

our  own  voice  in   this  mournful  story  ?     Let  us  look  at  it  care- 
fully :— 

"When  he  saw," — that,  at  least,  is  familiar  !  Not  until  our 
actions  are  set  a  little  off  do  we  see  all  their  relations  and  all  their 
meaning  ;  in  their  progress  we  are  too  near  them  to  get  their  full 
effect  ;  if  we  take  but  one  step  back  we  shall  be  affrighted  by  the 
very  actions  of  which  the  doing  gave  us  a  kind  of  frenzied  joy. 
We  make  our  own  ghosts.  We  shut  the  eyes  of  our  minds  whilst 
we  are  doing  certain  things  ;  and  when  the  last  touch  is  given  to 
the  deed,  we  are  taught  by  the  bitterness  of  experience  that  Temp- 
tation destroys  our  sight  and  that  Guilt  restores  it.  Recall  the 
case  of  Adam  and  Eve, — "  And  the  eyes  of  them  both  were 
opened  !"  Very  short  and  cloudy  is  the  sight  of  the  body  :  how 
keen,  how  piercing,  is  the  sight  of  a  self-convicted  soul  !  Before 
that  discerning  vision  the  air  is  full  of  eyes,  and  the  clearest  of  all 
days  is  dark  with  menaces  and  gathering  thunders. 

"  When  he  saw  that  he  was  condemned." — At  that  moment  the 
surprise  of  Judas  himself  was  supreme  and  unutterable  :  evidently 
he  did  not  expect  that  this  catastrophe  would  supervene  ;  he  may, 
indeed,  have  said  to  himself — as  a  man  of  inventive  and  daring 
mind  would  be  likely  to  say — I  am  quite  sure,  from  what  I  have 
seen  of  his  miracles,  that  he  will  prove  himself  more  than  a  match 
for  all  his  enemies  ;  he  has  done  so  before,  and  he  will  do  it  again  ; 
they  said  they  would  cast  him  down  from  the  brow  of  the  hill,  but 
he  went  through  the  midst  of  them  like  a  beam  of  light,  and  when 
they  took  up  stones  to  stone  him,  their  hands  were  held  fast  by 
that  strong  will  of  his  ;  he  has  provoked  them  to  their  face, 
heaped  up  all  their  sins  before  them,  taunted  and  goaded  them 
to  madness,  and  yet  he  held  them  in  check  and  played  with  them 
as  he  listed  :  it  will  be  so  again  ;  besides,  he  may  just  want  a  plan 
like  mine  to  bring  things  to  a  point ;  I  will  put  him  into  the 
hands  of  these  men,  then  will  he  shake  them  off,  proclaim  his 
kingdom,  drive  away  the  spoiler  from  the  land  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  we  shall  come  into  the  enjoyment  of  our  promised  reward. — 
Judas  may  not  have  used  these  words,  but  in  effect  they  are  being 
used  by  sinners  every  day  !  This  is  the  universal  tongue  of  self- 
deception,  varying  a  little,  it  may  be,  in  the  accent,  but  in  sub- 
stance the  same  all  the  world  over  ;  a  putting  of  one  thing  against 


360  MATTHEW  XXV II.  3,  4. 

another,  a  balancing  of  probabilities,  an  exercise  of  self-outwitting 
cunning  ;  a  secret  hope  that  something  can  be  snatched  out  of  the 
fire,  and  that  the  flames  can  be  subdued  without  undue  damage, 
— this  is  the  method  of  sinfulness  of  heart,  a  method  confounded 
every  day  by  the  hand  of  God,  yet  every  day  coming  up  again  to 
fresh  attempts  and  renewed  humiliations. 

"  When  he  saw  that  he  was  condemned  he  repented  himself." — 
Is  there  not  hope  of  a  man  who  is  capable  of  any  degree  of  repent- 
ance, even  when  repentance  takes  upon  itself  the  darker  shade  of 
horror  and  remorse  ?  I  know  what  the  word  is  which  is  translated 
"  repented,"  and  I  remember  with  joy  that  it  is  the  word  which  is 
used  of  the  son  who  said  he  would  not  go,  and  afterwards  repented 
and  went  ;  it  is  the  word  which  Paul  used  of  himself  on  one  occa- 
sion in  writing  to  the  Corinthians.  But  even  if  the  word  be 
rendered  "was  filled  with  remorse  and  shame  and  despair,"  I 
should  say,  "  So  much  the  better  for  Judas."  Under  such 
circumstances  I  should  have  more  hope  of  a  man  who  had 
absolutely  no  hope  of  himself,  than  of  a  man  who  could  suffi- 
ciently control  himself  to  think  that  even  such  a  sin — infinite  in 
wickedness  as  it  must  have  appeared  to  his  own  mind — could  ever 
be  forgiven.  It  is  easy  for  us  who  never  experienced  the  agony  to 
say  what  Judas  ought  to  have  done  :  how  he  ought  to  have  wept 
and  prayed  and  sought  forgiveness  as  we  now  should  seek  it, — we 
cannot  intermeddle  with  his  sorrow,  nor  ought  we  harshly  to  judge 
the  method  of  his  vengeance. 

"  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood."  — 
Not,  "  I  was  hurried  into  this  by  others  ;"  not,  "  Others  are  as 
much  to  blame  as  I  am  ;"  but,  "  I  did  it,  and  I  alone."  Not, 
"  I  have  made  a  mistake  ;"  not,  "  This  is  a  great  error  on  my 
part;"  but,  "I  have  sinned," — the  very  word  which  he  might 
have  heard  in  his  Lord's  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son, — the  word 
which  our  Father  in  heaven  delights  to  hear  !  "  If  we  confess  our 
sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  for  his  mercy 
endureth  for  ever."  "  If  thy  brother  turn  again,  saying,  I  repent, 
forgive  him  ;" — Judas  repented  himself  !  "  How  often  shall  I 
forgive  him  ?  Seven  times.  Seventy  times  seven  !"  And  shall 
I  forgive  him  the  less  because  his  repentance  has  deepened  into 
remorse,  and  he  has  lost  all  hope  of  himself  ?  Surely  the  more 
on  that  very  account     And   if  he  slay  himself  because  of  his  sin 


THE  SUICIDE  OF  JUDAS.  361 

against  me  ?  Then  must  I  think  of  him  with  still  tenderer  pity, 
nor  cloud  his  memory  with  a  single  suspicion.  And  here  let  me 
say,  as  to  the  spiritual  application  of  this  matter,  I  have  no  faith 
in  the  moral  value  of  fine-drawn  distinctions  between  repentance 
and  despair  ;  my  belief  is  that  until  we  reach  the  point  of  self- 
despair  as  to  our  sin  against  Christ,  we  can  never  know  the  true 
meaning  or  realize  the  true  joy  of  repentance.  That  Judas  should 
have  slain  himself  with  his  own  hand  is,  in  my  view  of  the  case, 
wholly  in  his  favour.  It  must  have  appeared  to  him,  indeed,  to 
be  the  only  course  open  to  him  ;  floods  of  tears  he  could  never 
set  against  the  blood  of  an  innocent  man  ;  to  cry  and  moan  and 
weep  bitterly,  would  be  just  to  aggravate  the  appalling  crime. 
With  a  stronger  light  beating  on  our  life  than  ever  Judas  was  per- 
mitted to  enjoy,  guarded  by  all  the  restraints  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, living  under  the  ministry  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  are  by  so 
much  unable  to  sympathize  with  the  intolerable  horror  which 
destroyed  the  self-control  of  the  Betrayer  of  our  Lord.  So  far  as  I 
can  think  myself  back  into  the  mental  condition  of  Judas,  his 
suicide  seems  to  me  to  be  the  proper  completion  of  his  insufferable 
self-reproach.  And  yet  that  self-control  was  preserved  long  enough 
to  enable  Judas  Iscariot  to  utter  the  most  effective  and  precious 
eulogium  ever  pronounced  upon  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ. 
How  brief,  how  simple,  how  complete — "  innocent  blood  !"  If 
the  proper  interpretation  of  words  is  to  be  found,  as  it  undoubtedly 
is,  in  circumstances,  then  these  two  words  are  fuller  in  meaning 
and  tenderer  in  pathos  than  the  most  laboured  encomium  could 
possibly  be.  Consider  the  life  which  preceded  these  words,  and 
you  will  see  that  they  may  be  amplified  thus  :  "I  know  Jesus 
better  than  any  of  you  can  know  him  ;  you  have  only  seen  him  in 
public,  I  have  lived  with  him  in  private  ;  I  have  watched  his  words 
as  words  of  man  were  never  watched  before  ;  I  have  heard  his 
speeches  meant  for  his  disciples  alone  ;  I  have  seen  him  in  poverty, 
weariness,  and  pain  of  heart ;  I  have  heard  his  prayers  at  home  ; 
I  trusted  that  it  had  been  he  who  would  have  redeemed  Israel 
from  patriotic  servility  ;  I  curse  myself,  I  exonerate  him, — his  is 
innocent  blood  !"  How  glad  would  the  Jews  have  been  if  Christ 
had  been  witnessed  against  by  one  of  his  own  disciples  !  They 
would  have  welcomed  his  evidence  ;  no  gold  could  have 
adequately  paid  for  testimony  so  direct  and  important ;  and  Judas 


362  JOHN  XVII.  12. 


loved  gold.  Yet  the  holy  truth  came  uppermost ;  Judas  died  not 
with  a  lie  in  his  right  hand,  but  with  the  word  of  truth  upon  his 
lips,  and  the  name  of  Christ  was  thus  saved  from  what  might  have 
been  its  deepest  wound. 

"  Those  that  thou  gavest  me  I  have  kept,  and  none  of  them  is 
lost,  but  the  son  of  perdition." — At  the  first  glance  these  words 
would  seem  to  put  the  fate  of  Judas  Iscariot  beyond  all  contro- 
versy, yet  further  consideration  may  show  how  mercy  may  magnify 
itself  even  in  this  cloud.  Judas  is  called  "  the  son  of  perdition  ;" 
true,  and  Peter  himself  was  called  Satan  by  the  same  Lord.  And 
if  Judas  was  "the  son  of  perdition,"  what  does  Paul  say  of  all 
mankind  ?  Does  he  not  say,  "  We  are  by  nature  the  children  of 
wrath,  even  as  others  ?"  But  in  this  case  "  the  son  of  perdition" 
is  said  to  be  "lost;"  but  does  the  word  lost  necessarily  imply 
that  he  was  in  hell?  "We  have  all  erred  and  strayed  like  lost 
sheep  ;"  "  the  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost;'  and,  "there  is  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of 
God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  [Judas  repented  himself],  more 
than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  that  need  no  repentance." 
It  is  our  joy  to  believe  that  wherever  repentance  is  possible,  mercy 
is  possible  ;  and  it  is  heaven  to  us  to  know  that  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound.  And  are  we  quite  sure 
that  there  is  no  ray  of  hope  falling  upon  the  repentant  and 
remorseful  Judas  from  such  words  as  these  :  ' '  And  this  is  the 
Father's  will  which  hath  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given 
me  [and  that  he  gave  him  Iscariot  is  clear  from  the  very  passage 
we  are  now  considering]  I  should  lose  nothing,  but  should  raise  it 
up  again  at  the  last  day"  (John  vi.  39)  ?  But  there  is  still  more 
light  to  be  thrown  on  this  great  gloom.  Take  this  passage  (John 
xviii.  8,  9),  "  Jesus  answered,  I  have  told  you  that  I  am  he  :  if 
therefore  ye  seek  me,  let  these  go  their  way  ;  that  the  saying 
might  be  fulfilled  which  he  spake,  Of  them  which  thou  gavest  me 
I  have  lost  none."  Now  suppose  that  the  ruffians  had  answered, 
"  No,  we  will  not  let  these  go  their  way  ;  we  will  slay  them  with 
the  sword  at  once," — would  it  follow  that  Jesus  Christ  had  lost 
his  disciples  in  the  sense  of  their  having  been  destroyed  in  un- 
quenchable fire  ?  The  suggestion  is  not  to  be  entertained  for  a 
moment,  yet  this  is  the  very  "  saying"  which  is  supposed  to  deter- 


TO  HIS   OWN  PLACE.  363 

mine  the  damnation  of  Judas  !  As  I  read  the  whole  history,  I 
cannot  but  feel  that  our  Lord  was  specially  wistful  that  his  dis- 
ciples should  continue  with  him  throughout  his  temptation,  should 
watch  with  him,  that  in  some  way,  hardly  to  be  expressed  in 
words,  they  should  help  him  by  the  sympathy  of  their  presence, — 
in  this  sense  he  was  anxious  to  ' '  lose  none  ;' '  but  he  did  lose  the 
one  into  whom  Satan  had  entered,  and  he  refers  to  him  not  so 
much  for  his  own  sake  as  that  he  may  rejoice  the  more  in  the 
constancy  of  those  who  remained.  But  the  whole  reference,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  is  not  to  the  final  and  eternal  state  of  men  in  the 
unseen  world,  but  to  continuance  and  steadfastness  in  relation  to 
a  given  crisis. 

"  This  ministry  and  apostleship  from  which  Judas  by  transgres- 
sion fell,  that  he  might  go  to  his  own  place"  (Acts  i.  25). — One 
reputable  scholar  has  suggested  that  the  words  "go  to  his  own 
place"  may  refer  to  Matthias,  and  not  to  Judas  ;  but  the  sugges- 
tion does  not  commend  itself  to  my  judgment.  I  think  we 
should  lose  a  good  deal  by  accepting  this  interpretation.  I  hold 
that  this  is  an  instance  of  exquisite  delicacy  on  the  part  of  Peter  : 
no  judgment  is  pronounced  ;  the  fall  is  spoken  of  only  as  official 
and  as  involving  official  results,  and  the  sinner  himself  is  left  in 
the  hands  of  God.  It  is  in  this  spirit  that  Peter  speaks  ol 
Judas  : — 

"  Owning  his  weakness, 

His  evil  behaviour, 
And  leaving  with  meekness 

His  sins  to  his  Saviour." 


II.   Practical. 

Such  a  study  as  this  can  hardly  fail  to  be  fruitful  of  suggestion 
to  the  nominal  followers  of  Christ  in  all  ages.  What  are  its  lessons 
to  ourselves, — to  ourselves  as  Christians,  ministers,  office-bearers, 
and  stewards  of  heavenly  mysteries  ? 

I.  Our  first  lesson  will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  when  our  Lord 
said  to  his  disciples,  ' '  One  of  you  shall  betray  me, ' '  every  one  of 
them  began  to  say  "  Is  it  I  ?"  Instead  of  being  shocked  even  to 
indignation,  each  of  the  disciples  put  it  to  himself  as  a  possibility ; 


364  MATTHEW  XXVI.  22. 

"  It  may  be  I  ;  Lord,  is  it  I  ?"  This  is  the  right  spirit  in  which 
to  hold  all  our  privileges.  We  should  regard  it  as  a  possibility  that 
the  strongest  may  fail,  and  even  the  oldest  may  betray  his  trust. 
' '  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall. ' '  Do 
you  suppose  that  there  was  but  one  betrayal  of  the  Lord  once  for 
all,  and  that  the  infamous  crime  can  never  be  repeated  ?  "I  tell 
you,  nay!"  There  are  predictions  yet  to  be  realized — "There 
shall  be  false  teachers  among  you,  who  privily  shall  bring  in 
damnable  heresies,  even  denying  the  Lord  that  bought  them  ;"  — 
"  Lord,  is  it  I?"  It  shall  surely  be  more  tolerable  for  Judas  ^/ 
Iscariot  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for  that  man  !  Living  in  the 
light  of  Gospel  day  ;  professing  to  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  ; 
ordained  as  a  minister  of  the  Cross  ;  holding  office  in  the  Christian 
Church  ; — is  it  impossible  for  those  who  were  once  enlightened, 
and  have  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  were  made  partakers  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  have  tasted  the  good  word  of  God,  and  the 
powers  of  the  world  to  come,  if  they  shall  fall  away,  to  renew  them 
again  unto  repentance  ;  seeing  that  they  crucify  to  themselves  the 
Son  of  God  afresh,  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame?  "  Lord,  is 
it  I  ?"  "In  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall  come  :  men  shall 
be  traitors," — "Lord,  is  it  I?"  Governing  our  life  by  this 
self-misgiving  spirit,  not  thinking  all  men  sinful  but  ourselves,  we 
shall  be  saved  from  the  boastfulness  which  is  practical  blasphemy, 
and  our  energy  shall  be  kept  from  fanaticism  by  the  chastening 
influence  of  self  jloubt.  Looking  upon  all  the  mighty  men  who 
have  made  shipwreck  of  faith  and  a  good  conscience — Adam, 
Saul,  Solomon,  Judas — let  us  be  careful  lest  after  having  preached 
to  others  we  ourselves  should  be  cast  away.  It  is  true  that  we 
cannot  repeat  the  literal  crime  of  Judas,  but  there  are  greater 
enormities  than  his  !  We  can  outdo  Judas  in  sin  !  "  Whosoever 
speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son  of  man  it  shall  be  forgiven  him, 
but  whosoever  speaketh  against  the  Holy  Ghost  it  shall  not  be  for- 
given him,  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the  world  to  come"  (Matt, 
xii.  32).  We  cannot  sell  the  body,  but  we  can  grieve  the  Spirit  ! 
There  can  be  no  more  covenanting  over  the  Lord's  bones,  but  we 
can  plunge  a  keener  spear  into  his  heart  than  that  which  drew 
forth  blood  and  water  from  his  side  ;  we  cannot  nail  him  to  the 
accursed  tree,  but  we  can  pierce  him  through  with  many  sorrows. 
Judas  died  by  the  vengeance  of  his  own  hand  ;  of  how  much  sorer 


PRACTICAL   LESSONS.  365 

punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath 
done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of  Grace  ?  Judas  shall  rise  in  judg- 
ment with  this  generation,  and  shall  condemn  it,  because  when  he 
saw  the  error  of  his  ways  he  repented  himself,  and  made  restitution 
of  his  unholy  gains  :  but  we  have  rolled  iniquity  under  our  tongue 
as  a  sweet  morsel,  we  have  held  our  places  in  the  sanctuary  while 
our  heart  has  been  the  habitation' of  the  enemy  !  It  will  be  a  fatal 
error  on  our  part  if  we  suppose  that  human  iniquity  reached  its 
culmination  in  the  sin  of  Judas,  and  that  after  his  wickedness  all 
other  guilt  is  contemptible  in  magnitude  and  trivial  in  effect.  Jesus 
Christ  teaches  another  doctrine  :  he  points  to  a  higher  crime, — 
that  higher  crime,  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  leaves  with- 
out specific  and  curious  definition  that  out  of  its  possibility  may 
come  a  continual  fear,  and  a  perpetual  discipline.  Grieve  not 
the  holy  Spirit  of  God,  whereby  ye  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of 
redemption  ! 

2.  Our  second  lesson  is  a  caution  against  mere  intellectual 
sagacity  in  directing  the  affairs  of  the  Christian  kingdom.  It  is 
admitted  on  all  hands  that  Judas  Iscariot  was  far  ahead  of  the 
other  apostles  in  many  intellectual  qualities,  yet  "  Judas  by  trans- 
gression fell."  How  self-controlled  he  was,  how  stealthy  was  his 
step,  how  lingering  and  watchful  his  cunning  !  And  if  Whately 
and  De  Quincey  be  right  in  the  suggestion  that  he  merely  wanted 
to  force  the  Lord  to  declare  Himself  the  Prince  of  princes  and 
make  Israel  glad  by  despoiling  the  oppressor,  it  discovers  the 
instinct  of  statesmanship,  and  shows  how  his  strategic  ambition 
sought  to  ensnare  the  Roman  fowler  in  his  own  net.  Judas  is 
supposed  to  have  reasoned  thus  with  himself  :  This  Jesus  is  he 
who  will  redeem  Israel  ;  the  whole  twelve  of  us  think  so  ;  yet  he 
hesitates,  for  some  reason  we  cannot  understand  ;  his  power  is 
astounding,  his  life  is  noble  ;  this  will  I  do,  I  will  bring  things 
to  a  crisis  by  going  to  the  authorities  and  making  them  an  offer  ; 
I  believe  they  will  snatch  at  my  proposition,  and  when  they  come 
to  work  it  out  he  will  smite  them  with  his  great  power,  and  will 
avenge  the  insult  by  establishing  his  supremacy  as  King  and  Lord 
of  Israel.  — As  a  matter  of  fact  we  know  that  this  kind  of  reasoning 
has  played  no  small  part  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  The  spirit- 
ual kingdom  of  Christ  has  suffered  severely  at  the  hands  of  men 


366  JOHN   VI.  70. 

who  have  been  proud  of  their  own  diplomacy  and  generalship  ; 
men  fond  of  elaborating  intricate  organisations,  of  playing  one 
influence  against  another,  and  of  making  up  for  the  slowness  of 
time  by  dramatic  surprises  alike  of  sympathy  and  collision.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  I  cannot  view  without  alarm  the  possible  misuse 
of  congresses,  conferences,  unions,  and  councils  :  these  institu- 
tions will  only  be  of  real  service  to  the  cause  of  the  Cross  in 
proportion  as  spiritual  influence  is  supreme  ; — once  let  political 
sagacity,  diplomatic  ingenuity,  and  official  adroitness  in  the  man- 
agement of  details  become  unduly  valued,  and  you  change  the 
centre  of  gravity,  and  bring  the  Church  into  imminent  peril. 
Unquestionably  human  nature  loves  dexterity,  and  will  pay  high 
prices  for  all  kinds  of  conjuring,  and  loudly  applaud  the  hero  who 
does  apparent  impossibilities  ;  and  from  this  innate  love  of  mere 
cleverness  may  come  betrayals,  compromises,  and  casuistries, 
which  crucify  the  Son  of  God  afresh.  Judas  looked  to  the  end  to 
vindicate  if  not  to  sanctify  the  means  ;  and  this  is  the  policy  of  all 
dexterous  managers,  the  very  soul  of  Jesuitry,  and  a  chosen 
instrument  of  the  devil.  I  do  not  pray  for  a  leader,  fertile  in 
resource,  supple  and  prompt  in  movement ;  my  prayer  is  for  a 
man  of  another  stamp,  even  for  an  Inspirer,  who,  by  the  ardour 
of  his  holiness,  the  keenness  of  his  spiritual  insight,  and  the 
unction  of  his  prayer,  shall  help  us  truthward  and  heavenward  ; 
and  under  his  leadership  we  shall  hear  no  more  about  secularities 
and  temporalities,  but  every  action — the  opening  of  the  doors  and 
the  lighting  of  the  lamps  of  the  sanctuary — shall  be  done  by  hands 
which  were  first  outstretched  in  prayer.  Not  the  crafty  Judas,  but 
the  loving  John  will  help  us  best  in  all  our  work  ;  not  the  man 
inexhaustible  in  tricks  of  management,  but  the  man  of  spiritual 
intelligence  and  fervour,  will  deliver  us  most  successfully  in  the 
time  of  straits  and  dangers.  Managers,  leaders,  draughtsmen, 
and  pioneers,  we  shall  of  course  never  cease  to  want,  and  their 
abilities  will  always  be  of  high  value  to  every  good  cause  ;  yet  one 
thing  is  needful  above  all  others — closeness  to  the  dear  Lord,  and 
daily  continuance  in  prayer. 


EPILOGUE. 


LARGER  DEFINITIONS. 

BECAUSE  certain  people  had  given  Jesus  Christ  bread  when 
he  was  hungry,  drink  when  he  was  thirsty,  and  clothing 
when  he  was  naked,  and  because  they  had  called  upon  him  when 
he  was  sick,  and  visited  him  when  he  was  in  prison,  therefore  they 
were  called  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  prepared  for  them  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  That  is  one  side  of  the  context.  And 
because  other  people  had  omitted  to  do  the  whole  of  these  things, 
they  were  pronounced  accursed,  and  sent  away  into  everlasting  fire, 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  That  is  the  other  and 
completing  aspect  of  the  case.  Then  the  conditions  of  entering 
into  the  kingdom  prepared  for  good  people  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  are  exceedingly  simple,  and  the  conditions  upon 
which  people  are  rejected  from  that  kingdom,  are,  apparently,  at 
least,  most  insufficient  and  inequitable.  Because  you  have  given 
a  loaf  to  a  beggar,  thrown  an  out-worn  garment  upon  the  shoulders 
of  some  shivering  pauper,  and  have  done  both  things  so  carelessly 
as  actually  to  have  forgotten  that  you  had  ever  done  them,  there- 
fore  you  may  enter  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  and  be  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  eternal 
life.  This,  perhaps,  you  could  understand,  acknowledging  the 
simplicity  of  the  case,  and  wondering  much  concerning  that  sim- 
plicity. But  you  could  not  so  well  and  comfortably  comprehend 
the  other  side  of  the  case — namely,  that  because  a  man  has  not 
given  a  loaf  or  a  garment,  therefore  he  should  go  away  into  outer 
darkness,  where  there  is  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  and  into 
everlasting  punishment,  a  state  typified  by  the  worm  that  dieth  not 
and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched.  If  you  read  that  in  the  news- 
paper, you  would  say  this  is  unjust  :  if  any  magistrate  in  England 


t 

368  MATTHEW  XXV.  35-40. 

attempted  to  do  anything  of  this  kind,  the  whole  country  would 
rise  in  moral  indignation  and  rebellion  against  injustice  so  mon- 
strous and  aggravated. 

Thus  we  are  brought  into  a  very  critical  condition  of  mind  in 
relation  to  this  text.  Nothing  can  be  simpler  than  the  terms  : 
there  is  no  long  word  here  within  whose  tortuous  scope  men  may 
wriggle  and  make  mistakes,  and  come  to  false  conclusions.  This 
part  of  the  Testament  might  be  cut  out  as  an  elementary  lesson  for 
young  readers.  It  becomes,  therefore,  of  supreme  importance 
that  we  should  really  understand  this  matter,  lest  some  of  us 
should  be  trusting  false  refuges  in  relation  to  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom,  and  others  should  be  so  infinitely  distressed  by  a  sense 
of  injustice  at  the  very  outset  as  to  be  utterly  discouraged  from 
making  any  attempts  at  a  lofty  and  noble  life.  What  is  to  be 
done  ?  You  have  to  do  here  what  you  have  to  do  along  the  whole 
line  of  the  Christian  kingdom  :  if  you  will  do  it,  you  are  equal  to 
every  emergency,  triumphant  in  every  controversy,  and  perfectly 
at  rest  regarding  the  equitability  and  benevolence  of  the  divine  rule 
of  mankind.  What  you  have  to  do  is  to  enlarge  the  terms. 
Observe,  I  will  not  have  a  word  changed  :  I  call  for  expansion  of 
meaning,  for  the  natural  development  of  the  words,  for  enlarge- 
ment of  definition,  and  then  God's  providence  is  illuminated  and 
commended  for  its  justice  and  nobleness,  and  for  the  very  neces- 
sity of  those  principles  which  it  elevates  and  enforces  and  honours 
with  final  and  complete  vindication.  The  Christian  faith  is  to 
take  its  place  amid  all  the  controversies  of  the  times,  by  changing 
nothing  essential,  touching  nothing  vital,  but  by  enlarging  its 
terms  so  as  to  comprehend  all  unsuspecting  occurrences,  all  start- 
ling accidents,  all  varieties  of  the  highest  and  most  urgent  thinking 
of  the  times. 

If  you  take  the  word  hunger,  you  naturally  limit  it  to  the 
demands  of  the  physical  appetite.  A  child  will  tell  you  what 
hunger  means  :  ask  your  least  child  who  can  speak,  what  do  we 
give  to  people  who  are  hungry,  and  the  child  will  say  "  Bread." 
That  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  definition,  and  the  difficulty  I 
have  with  many  persons  in  the  study  of  this  divine  kingdom,  is 
that  having  got  the  alphabet,  you  cannot  get  them  into  the  con- 
struction and  combination  of  syllables.  They  will  hang  on  by 
the  mere  alphabet,  and  therefore  what   is  their  Christianity  ?     A 


EPILOGUE.  369 


rattle  of  letters,  not  high,  resonant,  infinite  music.  Is  the  child's 
definition  of  hunger  correct  ?  It  is  perfectly  correct  as  far  as  it 
goes — but  what  is  hunger  ?  Many  a  man  has  risen  from  a  king's 
feast  hunger-bitten,  with  a  thirst  unquenchable  burning  in  him. 
How  so  ?  Have  the  viands  been  insufficient  ?  Nothing  of  the 
kind  ;  the  startled  table  groaned  under  the  load  of  luxury.  Were 
the  wines  few  or  poor  ?  Nay,  vintages  are  poured  out  through  the 
channels  of  that  banquet-room.  What  was  wanting  ?  Bread  for 
a  keener  hunger,  water  for  an  unappeasable  thirst.  "  Behold  the 
days  come,  saith  the  Lord,  that  I  will  send  a  famine  upon  the 
land  :  not  a  famine  of  bread  nor  a  thirst  of  water,  but  of  hearing 
the  word  of  the  Lord. ' '  We  have  all  been  amply  satisfied  with 
our  morning  repast  :  there  is  no  man  here,  probably,  with  a  crav- 
ing hunger  within  him,  which  he  at  all  events  has  not  the  means 
of  appeasing.  Yet  it  is  possible  that,  the  richest  man  amongst  us, 
the  man  that  has  left  a  table  loaded  that  he  might  return  to  a  table 
still  more  laden — it  is  possible  that  even  such  a  man  may  know 
"  the  curse  of  a  high  spirit,  famishing  because  all  earth  but  sickens 
it."  Now  that  we  are  throwing  out  the  meanings  thus  legiti- 
mately, so  as  to  take  in  the  whole  line  of  human  want,  we  begin  to 
enlarge  the  terms  of  the  trial,  so  as  to  meet  the  terms  of  the  award. 

First  then,  in  reference  to  the  giving  of  actual  bread — bread  as 
usually  understood.  Most  unquestionably  there  is  a  distinct 
reference  to  that  gift  :  that  is  the  very  basis  of  the  judgment  :  that 
is  the  initial  and  necessary  line  of  the  whole  movement — for  if  you 
would  not  give  natural  and  ordinary  bread,  you  would  not  give  the 
higher  necessaries  to  the  hunger  and  the  thirst  of  mankind. 
Imagine  not,  therefore,  that  I  am  liberating  any  man  from  the 
responsibility  of  giving  natural  bread  to  natural  hunger  :  that  must 
be  assumed  initially,  intermedially,  and  finally  —  no  change  or 
modification  can  be  allowed  there.  If  you  ask  me  to  justify  the 
enlargement  of  my  terms,  I  justify  the  enlargement  by  a  reference 
to  your  own  experience  and  your  own  consci  ousness.  The  word 
hunger  is  variously  used  in  Holy  Scripture,  as  is  the  word  thirst. 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for 
they  shall  be  filled."  Let  us  visit  this  man,  sitting  on  his  velvet 
cushion  upon  his  luxurious  carpet,  with  his  hand  upon  a  bell 
which,   touched,  will  bring  a  hundred  servants  around  him,  with 


37o  MATTHEW  XXV.  35-40. 

pictures,  horses,  and  large  estates,  and  gold  hardly  to  be  counted. 
Happy  man?  Never  has  one  moment's  happiness.  Satisfied? 
Burning  with  an  intolerable  hunger  and  thirst.  What  wants  he  ? 
You  must  find  that  out.  He  wants  one  word  of  love,  one  assur- 
ance of  sympathy,  one  breath  of  condolence,  one  prayer  of  inter- 
cession—he hungers  to  know  himself:  he  says,  "I  cannot  tell 
what  I  am,  what  I  feel  ;  I  am  tormented,  distressed  :  I  feel  in  my 
heart  an  aching  void."  If  you  would  sit  down  beside  that  man, 
and  break  the  bread  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  him,  and  give 
him  to  drink  of  the  water  of  which  Christ  said,  if  a  man  drink  he 
shall  never  thirst  again,  you  would  leave  that  man  behind  you 
satisfied,  delighted,  thankful  ;  you  would  have  come  within  the 
sweep  of  the  infinite  meaning  of  this  marvellous  passage.  To 
satisfy  the  hunger  of  men  is  to  be  on  the  way  to  the  approval  of 
heaven. 

Let  us  visit  another  soul  amply  supplied  with  all  things  material 
and  temporal—a  man  to  whom  you  can  do  no  favour  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  that  term.  He  has  more  than  he  can  eat  and  drink 
of  a  physical  kind  :  his  house  is  large  enough,  his  resources  are 
more  than  abundant,  they  are  redundant  to  the  utmost  plentiful- 
ness.  If  you  gave  him  more  gold  he  would  not  know  that  you 
had  given  it  to  him.  What  can  we  do  for  this  man  ?  Listen  to 
him.  He  is  the  victim  of  superstition,  of  narrow  notions,  of  false 
ideas,  of  bigoted  conceptions,  of  sectarian  sympathies  :  he  is  in 
prison,  his  soul  is  in  bondage.  Reveal  the  truth  to  him,  show 
him  how  little  he  has  yet  seen,  teach  him  how  to  take  up  his 
stakes  and  put  them  further  out,  how  to  lengthen  his  cords,  take 
in  more  roofage,  give  him  a  peep  over  boundaries  that  have  already 
shut  him  in — what  have  you  done  to  that  man  ?  You  found  him 
in  prison,  you  opened  the  door  and  sent  him  into  a  wide  and 
glorious  and  incorruptible  liberty.  We  have  never  been  in  prison, 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term,  and,  therefore,  I  contend  we 
must  not  have  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  shut  up  within  a  few  terms 
that  are  necessarily  limited  :  we  must  find  for  the  limited  word  an 
illimitable  meaning,  and  thus  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  shall  over- 
lap the  kingdom  of  earth,  and  the  greater  shall  include  the  less. 

If  we  make  a  third  call,  the  case  will  be  still  more  complete. 
It  shall  be  upon  a  person  who  has  gone  the  round  of  the  whole 


EPILOGUE.  371 


scheme  of  things  in  society — a  man  who  has  drunk  every  cup, 
tasted  to  exhaustion  every  enjoyment,  who  has  had  men-servants 
and  women-servants,  and  the  delights  of  the  sons  of  men,  and 
musical  instruments  of  all  sorts,  gardens,  and  pools  of  water — who 
has  been  in  the  giddy  swirl  and  riot  of  conventional  happiness, 
gone  through  it  all,  and  set  down  the  drained  goblet  with  a  curse. 
"  What  are  you,  sir?"  I  say  to  this  man,  who  has  passed  the 
whole  round  of  earthly  and  sensual  delights.  He  says,  "  I  am 
sick,  sated,  nauseated,  poisoned."  Will  you  take  again  the  goblet 
you  have  set  down  ?  Never.  What  ails  thee  ?  Sickness — death. 
Ah  !  let  me  speak  to  thee  :  there  is  another  world,  a  faith-world, 
where  souls  live,  where  Hope  rekindles  her  lamp,  where  the  spirit 
can  be  satisfied;  where  ideas  are  enlarged,  and  answered  by  ever- 
completing  revelations,  a  kingdom  thou  hast  never  been  in,  bread 
thou  hast  never  eaten,  water  thou  hast  never  tasted.  The  king  of 
the  fair  land  sends  me  to  thee,  sick  one,  and  dead,  and  says, 
"  Compel  him  to  come  in."  Wilt  come  ?  He  says,  "  Will  you 
take  me  ?"  I  answer,  "  I  will."  He  says,  "  I  will  arise  and  go 
to  my  Father,  and  will  say  unto  him,  Father,  I  have  sinned  :  there 
is  nothing  on  thy  side  to  be  accounted  for,  explained  or  justified, 
the  burden  is  on  me  and  on  me  alone."  He  goes  :  his  sickness 
is  forgotten  :  a  new  and  healthy  appetite  stirs  every  faculty  of  his 
nature.  He  was  sick  and  in  prison — you  visited  him — so  you 
have  enlarged  the  number  of  the  guests  that  throng  the  house  of 
the  Saviour. 

I  begin  now,  with  these  incidents  before  me,  to  see  that  the 
upshot  of  this,  if  ever  it  came  to  a  great  Assize,  must  be  very 
solemn  ;  for  this  hunger  was  no  passing  appetite,  this  thirst  was 
no  flake  of  fire  that  could  be  put  out  with  a  drop  of  water,  this 
nakedness  was  no  exposure  of  the  skin,  this  sickness  was  no  affec- 
tion of  the  physical  functions.  It  was  a  hunger  of  the  soul,  and  a 
thirst  of  the  spirit,  and  a  nakedness  of  the  whole  nature,  and  the 
whole  head  was  sick,  and  the  whole  heart  was  faint ;  and  if  you 
can  find  a  man  who  can  answer  these  necessities  and  destitutions, 
you  will  find  a  man  worthy  of  a  kingdom,  be  it  infinite  in  meas- 
urement, be  it  lasting  as  eternity  ;  you  will  indeed  deserve  the 
■  '  Well  done,"  which  is  Heaven. 

The  other  side  of  the  case  is  thus  abundantly  provided  for. 


372  MATTHEW  XXV.  41-46. 

The  difficulty  of  everlasting  punishment  is  now  no  difficulty  at  all, 
but  a  necessity.  For  what  would  the  case  be  then — who  are  they 
that  go  away  ?  According  to  the  terms  set  forth  in  the  Scripture 
before  us,  as  enlarged  according  to  human  experience  and  con- 
sciousness, there  are  people  who  have  done  nothing,  answered  no 
cry  of  the  spirit,  appeased  no  desire  of  the  soul,  healed  no  affection 
of  the  conscience,  thrown  no  light  of  liberty  upon  the  judgment 
of  men,  neglected  every  one,  answered  no  prayers,  heeded  no 
cries,  satisfied  no  wants — my  friends,  to  what  can  they  go  ?  When 
the  solemn  answer  comes,  "  To  everlasting  punishment,"  the 
conscience  says,  "Severe,  but  right."  The  hunger  of  the  uni- 
verse for  uprightness  and  justice  is  answered  and  satisfied  in  that 
going  away.  I  believe  in  everlasting  punishment.  I  cannot 
define  it,  nor  will  I  have  any  ordinary  human  definition  thrust 
upon  me.  I  only  know  this,  that  it  must  be  something  fearful 
beyond  the  imagination  of  man  to  conceive.  It  is  not  everlasting 
because  it  continues  three  hundred  centuries  rather  than  three 
hundred  days.  That  is  a  question  of  time  :  everlasting  is  a 
quality  as  well  as  a  quantity.  Eternal  is  more  than  duration,  it  is 
duration  forgotten,  duration  sunk  in  an  agony  or  delight.  Joy 
has  no  time,  misery  has  nothing  but  time. 

How  large  the  field  of  service  is  :  hunger,  thirst,  nakedness, 
'  sickness,  imprisonment,  destitution  of  every  kind — there  is  room 
enough  in  that  field  for  your  talent  and  mine,  and  the  resources 
of  the  individual  and  the  whole  commonwealth.  Find  your 
corner — work  it  well.  If  it  be  the  giving  of  natural  bread,  God 
bless  you — it  is  much  needed.  If  it  be  the  giving  of  ideas, 
God  bless  you — they  are  the  true  bread  which  cometh  down 
from  heaven.  If  it  be  the  giving  of  sympathy,  God  bless  you 
— it  is  wanted,  for  the  sick  heart  dies  of  the  poisoned  confec- 
tions of  time.  It  is  just  the  field  Christ  himself  occupied  ;  Jesus 
Christ  has  written  his  own  history  in  these  words  :  he  did  noth- 
ing else  for  three  years  than  what  he  describes  the  righteous  as 
having  done  in  these  verses — he  went  about  doing  good.  If 
the  people  were  hungry  he  said,  "  Give  them  to  eat."  If  they 
were  thirsty  of  spirit,  feeling  the  keen  necessities  of  the  heart,  he 
sat  down  upon  the  mountain  and  opened  his  mouth  and  taught 
them.      If  they  were  deluded,  victimized,  ensnared  by  temptations, 


EPILOGUE.  373 


traditions,  and  if  they  were  befooled  and  misled  by  incompetent 
teachers,  he  liberated  them  from  their  prison  of  inadequate  per- 
ceptions and  perverted  ideas  and  introduced  them  into  the  glori- 
ous liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

This  leads  me  to  say  that  no  man  can  occupy  this  field  except  in 
Christ' s  spirit.  It  is  not  an  inviting  field  :  no  man  goes  to  the 
hospital  for  a  day  of  recreation,  he  goes  to  teach,  to  heal,  to  miti- 
gate pain.  No  man  would  go  to  the  lunatic  asylum  for  the  pur- 
pose of  spending  a  half-holiday.  He  goes  to  see  if  anything  can 
be  done,  if  any  poor  wretch  can  yet  be  saved  from  the  outermost, 
— and  as  he  goes  in  the  angels  sing  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest  : 
on  earth  peace  and  good  will  towards  men."  If  you  have  not 
Christ's  spirit,  you  soon  tire  of  dealing  with  the  hungry,  thirsty, 
naked,  sick,  imprisoned,  miserable.  There  is  nothing  in  these 
things  themselves  to  fascinate  the  taste,  to  engage  the  affections, 
to  conciliate  the  esteem  and  fire  the  energy  of  the  human  heart. 
These  things  are  repulsive  in  themselves  ;  unless  we  get  the  right 
view  they  will  shock  us  and  affright  us  and  repel  us,  and  we  shall 
seek  health  and  beauty  and  plenty  and  freedom,  and  call  these 
things  our  delights. 

So  then  the  case  is  not  so  simple  as  you  at  first  thought  it  to  be. 
It  is  not  the  thrusting  a  loaf  into  the  hands  of  a  beggar  and  there- 
fore going  to  Heaven.  It  is  not  a  sinful  life  for  seventy  years,  and 
then  calling  in  some  poor  wretch  off  the  streets  and  giving  him  a, 
goblet  of  water,  and  then  saying,  "  There  now,  I  am  going 
straight  up  to  glory. ' '  I  thought  it  must  be  deeper  than  that  :  I 
felt  that  that  was  wrong  :  I  know  it  now.  What  has  the  Christian 
teacher  done  this  morning — changed  a  single  word  ?  Not  one. 
Altered  the  venue  ?  Not  for  a  moment.  Rewritten  the  Bible  ? 
Not  a  verse  of  it.  What  then  ?  What  every  Christian  expositor 
and  every  Christian  controversialist  must  do  :  then  he  will  take  the 
spoil  from  mighty  kings  :  he  must  enlarge  his  definitions,  thrust 
out  his  terms  to  their  full  signification,  and  he  will  find  that  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  wide  enough  to  include  all  science,  all  poli- 
tics, all  hunger,  all  thirst,  all  miser}'',  all  need — that  it  is  a  kingdom 
of  kingdoms,  as  its  Lord  is  King  of  kings. 

END    OF    VOL.     III. 


BY   THE  AUTHOR   OF   "ECCE  DEUS." 


COMPLETE    IN    THREE    VOLUMES.       $1.50    EACH 


SEVENTH  EDITION. 


THE 

INNER  LIFE  OF  CHRIST 

As  revealed  in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew. 

A  SERIES  OF  PULPIT  STUDIES  AND  A  COLLECTION  OF 
CRITICAL  NOTES. 

A  COMPANION  TO  OTHER  BIOGRAPHIES  OF  CHRIST. 


JOSEPH   PARKER,   D.D., 

Minister  of  the  City  Temple,  Holborn  Viaduct,  London  ; 

AUTHOR    OF    "  ECCE   DEUS;"    "  THE   PARACLETE,"    ETC. 


Vol.  I.  "  THESE  SAYINGS  OP  MINE." 
Vol.  II.  "SERVANT  OP  ALL." 
Vol.  III.  "  THINGS   CONCERNING  HIMSELF. 


This  work  contains,  in  addition  to  the  Sermons  and  Prayers,  a  large 
collation  of  the  best  criticism  upon  the  text  of  the  first  Gospel. 


The  Christian  World  says :    "  We  have 

no  hesitation  in  describing  these  '  expositions,' 
for  such  they  really  are,  as  most  luminous  in 
their  highest  interpretation  of  the  Divine  Say- 
ings. They  glow  with  holy  fire,  and  they  are 
inspirational  alike  to  intellect,  conscience,  and 
heart.  At  times  Dr.  Parker  seems  to  flood  a 
familiar  scene  or  saying  with  a  light  that  sur- 
prises us,  and  withal  it  is  such  genuine  truth 
that  you  know  it  is  no  fancy  illumination,  but 
a  true  light,  although  an  unperceived  one  be- 
fore. Intellectual  genius  does  unquestionably 
belong  to  Dr.  Parker,  and  the  first  sermon  on 
the  Genealogical  Tree  is  quick  with  it.  The 
intellectual  strength  of  the  volume  is  but  a  part 
of  it ;  there  is  poetry  in  it— true  poetry  of  the 
soul,  whose  faith-vision  sees  what  the  intellect 
can  never  pierce.  It  is  pre-eminently  a  book 
for  preachers,  and  will  be  eagerly  read  by 
many  whose  means  aresparseandwhosestudy- 
tables  are  poorly  spread  with  new  bread  of 


thought.  We  pity  the  preacher  who  is  not 
stimulated  and  helped  by  this  volume,  placed 
so  easily  within  the  reach  of  all.  We  have  three 
hundred  and  sixty  pages.  Then  there  is  no 
literary  'padding'  here,  no  make-up.  Dr. 
Parker's  power  of  graphic  description  and  ot 
intuitive  perception  are  here  accompanied  by 
that  glorious  gift  of  turning  truth  into  life, 
bringing  to  bear  in  an  instant  the  highest 
truths  on  the  common  wants,  faults,  hopes, 
and  agonies  of  the  human  heart.  '  We  can- 
not mistake  true  music,'  says  the  author, 
speaking  of  the  sayings  of  Christ  ;  '  we  shall 
know  whether  the  wind  comes  along  the  earth, 
and  brings  the  earth's  dust  with  it,  or  whether 
it  comes  resoundingly  from  the  heavens,  and 
brings  with  it  voices  and  utterances  of  the 
upper  and  better  world.' 

"  Doctors  Farrar  and  Geikie  have  done 
much  in  illustration  of  the  life  of  Christ ;  and 
'These  Sayingsof  Mine,'  by  Dr.Parker, should 


THE  INNER  LIFE  OF  CHRIST. 


accompany  these  volumes  on  the  library 
shelves,  for  he  is  here  doing  the  divinest  and 

most  difficult  work  of  all ;  he  is  not  the 

historian  or  the  painter,  but  he  is  the  spiritual 
philosopher,  removing  difficulties  here  and 
there  in  the  way  of  faith,  never  hesitant  or 
apologetic,  but  so  full  of  a  living  theology  of 
the  mind  and  the  heart,  that  we  are  borne 
along,  not  only  convinced,  but  grateful,  for 
the  Divine  life  thus  vivified  in  the  soul.     This 

book  is  what  we  call  the  thinking  of  a 

living  man,  not  of  a  mere  book-making  de- 
fender of  the  faith  who  wants  a  library  of 
reference  in  his  company  always.  The  volume 
has  interested  us  beyond  measure  at  times  ; 
it  has  thrilled  us  with  vital  convictions  of 
truth,  and,  at  the  last  page,  like  '  Oliver 
Twist,'  we  want  l  more. '  The  volume  is  des- 
tined, we  think,  to  take  a  foremost  place 
among  the  books  of  this  era,  written  in 
relation  to  the  Christ  of  History,  and  will 
give  a  new  illustration  to  the  wonderful  fact 
that,  in  this  nineteenth  century,  the  one  sub- 
ject which  occupies  the  highest  minds  and 
awakens  interest  in  the  great  world's  heart  is 
"  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God." 

The  Expositor  says:  "Very  powerful 
and  able  the  exposition  often  is  ;  one  of  its 
chief  excellencies  being  that  all  the  truths  sug- 
gested to  Dr.  Parker's  mind  by  the  Scripture 
in  hand  are  duly  related  to  the  thought  and 
experience  of  to-day,  and  often  interpreted  by 
them.  The  thought  both  of  style  and  expres- 
sion is  masculine  and  robust,  degenerating  at 
times— for  even  Dr.  Parker  has  the  defects  of 
his  qualities — into  coarseness.  But  no  man 
can  bring  an  unprejudiced  mind  to  these  ex- 
pository discourses  without  being  healthily 
impressed   with    them,   and    at    times    even 

charmed  by  unexpected  glimpses  of  truth, 

and  by  equally  unexpected  delicacies  of  in- 
sight and  touch." 

The  Edinburgh  Daily  Review  says: 

"  Apart  from  its  intrinsic  merits,  this  volume 
has  a  great  interest  for  preachers  as  being  a 
verbatim  report  of  a  series  of  prayers  and  ser- 
mons by  Dr.  Parker,  of  the  City  Temple. 
There  are  few  Scottish  preachers  with  a  holi- 
day Sabbath  in  London  who  do  not  spend  some 
part  of  it  in  hearing  Dr.  Parker;  and  his 
Thursday  morning  service  is  also  very  largely 
attended  by  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
country.  .  .  .  They  form  a  a  Study  of  Very 
great  value  to  those  who  believe,  with  Dr. 
Parker,  that  the  pulpit  will  never  have  a  really 
and  general  popular  influence  until  the  habit 


of  reading  sermons  falls  into  disuse.  There 
are  very  few  who  could  submit  to  such  a  test  as 
Dr.  Parker  has  undergone.  Due  regard  being 
had  to  all  the  circumstances,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  comes  out  of  it  nobly. 

"Dr.  Parker  justly  claims  credit  for  his 
attempt  to  maintain  a  congregation  by  steady 
quiet,  earnest  exposition,  and  not  by '  anec- 
dotes, tragedies  and  rockets.'  Those  who 
have  witnessed  the  immense  audiences  who 
assemble  to  hear  these  discourses  know  how 
successful  the  attempt  has  been.  And 
preachers,  wearied  in  hunting  for  isolated 
texts,  may  learn  much  from  this  volume  as  to 
the  kind  of  exposition  which  interests  without 

wearying.     These  discourses  are  full  of 

thought ;  much  more  so  than  many  sermons 
that  bristle  with  theological  phrases.  There 
are  no  anecdotes,  or  next  to  none,  and  yet  so 
fre&h,  graceful,  and  graphic  is  the  treatment, 

that  the  reader  is  enchained.    The  homi- 

letic  commentaries  now  offered  to  preachers 
are  of  very  doubtful  value,  because  in  no  case, 
perhaps,  has  the  homiletic  treatment  been 
undertaken  by  a  really  original  preacher,  and 
the  matter  is  usually  trite  and  jejune  to  a 
degree.  It  is  very  different  here.  Not  even 
the  profoundest  student  of  the  Gospels  will 
be  able  to  read  this  volume  without  seeing  a 
brilliant  light  thrown  upon  many  passages  he 
had  not  hitherto  fully  understood." 

The    Sunday-School    Chronicle    says: 

"  This,  in  our  judgment,  is  the  best  book  of  an 
expositional  character  that  Dr.Parker  has  pro- 
duced. They  are  very  noble  examples  of  di- 
rect, suggestive,  earnest  preaching.  We  should 
therefore  like  to  see  this  volume  in  the  hands 
of  students  for  the  ministry,  and  the  young 
preachers  of  our  churches.  It  could  scarcely 
fail  to  quicken  their  minds,  to  reveal  new  as- 
pects of  truth,  to  show  how  the  Gospel  may  be 
commended  to  the  conscience  and  heart.  .  .  . 

Dr.  Parker  was  born  and  sent  into  the 

WOrld  tO  preach,  and  it  is  almost  impos.sible 
to  read  his  words  without  catching  some  of 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  work,  and  being  helped 
in  making  known  the  good  news  of  God." 

The  Christian  World  Pulpit  says:  "A 

preacher  who,  while  not  making  his  sermons 
the  vehicles  of  nebulous  speculations  and  fan- 
tastic vagaries,  is  yet  in  living  sympathy  with 
the  great  currents  of  present  day  thought,  and 
who  seeks  to  give  them  a  direction  which 
shall  enable  their  waters  to  mingle  with  and 
lend  a  freshening  strength  to  the  streams 
which  have  imparted  spiritual  fertility  to  past 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 


ages,  cannot  but  command  the  earnest  atten- 
tion of  this  generation.  Such  a  preacher  is 
Dr.  Parker,  and  his  latest  volume  of  dis- 
courses, 'These  Sayings  of  Mine,'  will  be 
found   by  all  who  open  it  to  contain  some 

of  the  most  spirit  stirring   utterances 

which  the  modern  pulpit  has  produced.  There 
is  no  monotonous,  weary  treading  in  the  paths 
prescribed  by  school  or  church,  the  refuge,  too 
often,  of  vital  indifference  or  essential  unbelief. 
Every  page,  almost  every  sentence,  contains 
some  germ  of  fresh  and  true  spiritual  life.  At 
the  same  time,  the  verities  of  the  Gospel,  not 
as  put  into  creeds,  but  as  felt  by  the  con- 
science of  Christendom,  are  neither  minimized 
nor  refined  away." 

The  Methodist  says  :  "  This  work  differs 
in  a  variety  of  respects  from  any  existing  com- 
mentary, owing  to  the  fact  a  large  portion  of 
it  has  been  spoken  at  the  Thursday  noon 
service  at  the  City  Temple.  The  prayers 
offered  on  those  occasions  are  here  included, 
and  afford  a  very  profitable  introduction  to 
the  devout  study  of  Christ's  words  and  works. 
These  devotional  exercises  are  often  deep  and 
pathetic,  touching  every  cornerof  human  life, 
and  reaching  every  variety  of  human  want, 
and  are  always  pitched  in  a  high  moral  key. 
We  consider  these  prayers  by  no  means  the 
least  valuable  portion  of  the  work.  Next,  the 
paragraph  to  be  expounded  is  quoted  in  full 
with  corrected  translations,  and  brief  but 
pointed  critical  notes.  Then  follows  the  ex- 
position prefaced  by  the  title  of  its  leading 
subject,  which  is  not  -(infrequently  a  sermon 
in  itself.  The  exposition  itself  is  marked  by 
comprehensiveness  of  grasp,  thoroughness 
and  originality  of  treatment,  rigid  fidelity  to 
the  leading  evangelical  truths;  and  having 
been  delivered  in  public,  it  is  marked  with  all 
the  Doctor's  rhetorical  power.  Some  of  the 
expositions  are  of  remarkable  excellence,  as, 
e.g.,  those  on  the  latter  part  of  Matt.  xvi.  and 
on  chap.  xvii.  The  Various  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  close  of  our  Lord's  earthly 
career  are  splendid  exhibitions  of  exegetical 
skill  and  graphical  delineation.  .  .  .  But  Dr. 
Parker  is  emphatically  a  preacher  for  preach- 
ers, and  every  page  bears  traces  of  its  having 
been  prepared  for  what  we  pronounce  it  to  be, 
the  preacher's  commentary  on  Matthew." 

MR.  SPTJRGEON  says :  "These  three 
volumes  have  about  them  all  the  peculiarities 
of  their  author.  We  may  differ  from  him  at 
times,  but  we  feel  the  great  value  of  thoughts 
io  fresh  and    original— flashes  from  a  mind 


naturally  vigorous  and  by  diligent  study 
strengthened  for  its  work.  Dr.  Parker  is  a 
man  by  himself,  after  no  class,  and  belonging 
to  no  school  ;  he  is  not  all  that  we  could  wish, 
but  he  is  a  man,  a  man  of  genius,  and  a  man 
of  power,  as  these  volumes  plainly  show.  We 
place  them  among  our  commentaries  to  be 
constantly  referred  to  when  we  are  studying 
Matthew's  Gospel.  We  do  not  lumber  our 
shelves,  but  select  for  them  books  which  we 
can  commend  to  others." 

The    Congregationalist    says :    "  No 

more  lofty  theme  could  be  proposed  by  any 
man  to  himself,  and  it  loses  nothing  of  its  vast- 
ness  and  sublimity  by  the  special  mode  in 
which  Dr.  Parker  has  treated  it.  .  .  .  It 
would  be  easy  to  select  from  these  volumes 
many  a  gem  of  great  value." 

REV.  DR.  DEEMS  says:  "The  first 
knowledge  we  had  of  him  in  America  was,  I 
think,  the  publication  of  his  work  styled 
'  Ecce  Deus.'  It  exhibited  a  freshness  and  a 
power  which  would  have  secured  its  place,  on 
the  ground  of  its  other  higher  merits,  even  if 
it  had  not  had  the  additional  virtue  of  antago- 
nizing certain  errors  of '  Ecce  Homo.'  Whoso 
read  it,  felt  that  its  author  muse  be  a  man  of 
much  more  than  ordinary  ability.  When  it 
was  announced  that  Dr.  Parker  was  the  au- 
thor, thousands  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
became  interested  in  him.  It  prepared  the 
warm  reception  which  he  met  when  he  came 
to  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  1873.  It  's  we" 
remembered  that  no  representative  from  Great 
Britain  produced  such  a  marked  impression 
as  Dr.  Parker  did,  by  the  magnificent  address 
which  he  delivered  in  the  Madison  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church.  His  book,  '  The  Para- 
clete,' maintained  his  reputation,  and  enlarged 
the  circle  of  his  readers. 

"  But  nothing  that  he  has  published 
so  shows  the  man,  I  think,  as  the  follow- 
ing sermons.    I  heard  three  of  them." 

The  Boston  Congregationalist  says: 

"  They  are  exceedingly  stirring  sermons  in  the 
bestsense.  .  .  .  They  rouse  the  reader  to  take 
fresh  courage  and  make  sturdier  efforts  in 
Christ's  name.  .  .  .  The  reader  feels  himself 
in  contact  with  a  manly  Christian  soul,  who  is 
bent  on  uttering  the  truths  of  religion,  so  as 
to  make  men  listen,  and  he  yields  willingly  to 
the  preacher's  spell.  .  .  .  These  sermons  are 
admirably  adapted  to  be  read  where  service 
has  to  be  held  without  a  preacher.  The 
prayers  which  accompany  them  are  remark- 
able for  tenderness  and  power." 


X 


BS2575.8.P24V.3 

The  inner  life  of  Christ  :  as  revealed 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00051   7393 
Date  Due 


I  9  >4i 

SJ^C*        ,-'5U 

: 

$ 

2087OC„   145 

11-13-07  22180     HC 


